Light in the Darkness
by Phoenix of the Darkness
Summary: Soon after returning home, Sora, Riku, and Kairi are sent on a whirlwind adventure around the universe, filled with old friends, new enemies, and allies they didn't know they had. SoKai, Rion, etc. Discontinued.
1. Prologue

Destiny. This is his destiny. To fall at the hands of the darkness. Terra feels the darkness swimming over him. At least Master Xehanort is gone . . . but at what price?

Ven sees the opposite. All white, but not light. No, something else, something perhaps even worse. It is nothing. He can't speak, can't hear anything. He is being erased, just as he asked of Aqua, on the beach. If this is what it feels like to vanish, he regrets asking her to do it less than three days ago.

And Aqua, she watches her friends vanish, seemingly dead, from the battlefield. Master Xehanort is gone. The apprentice is gone. But she is alone. Her friends, her greatest friends in the worlds, are gone. She falls to her knees in the light of Kingdom Hearts. Her armor barely remains in fragments. A solitary tear falls from the corner of her eye.

Mickey looks down on the Third District, where Donald and Goofy have just met the keybearer, Sora is his name. Mickey's keyblade appears in a flash of light. The length of it easily dwarfs him. The Star Seeker. He examines his keyblade before looking up at the sky, where he sees yet another star blink out. True to it's name, a shiver runs down his keyblade at the loss of another world.

Her blue eyes look at Riku. Xion whispers something unheard except by Riku. She reaches up and pulls away his blindfold, and a slight smile goes across her face at the sight of his sea-green orbs. With one final breath, she fades away into the darkness.

On the beach of Destiny Island, Sora talks with his best friend, Riku. Both of them have been through so much in the past year and a half.

"Hey Riku, what was that, the door to the light?" Sora asks.

Riku faces him, and points at Sora's heart. "This."

"This?" Sora says curiously, placing his hand over where Riku pointed.

"Yeah," Riku says nodding. "It's always closer than you think."

They both sigh, and watch the sun start to sink below the horizon. "Sora! Riku!" Kairi runs along the boardwalk, and catches her breath. She looks up at them. "Look." She holds up a glass bottle. In it is a letter. With the seal of King Mickey stamped on the outside.

"From the King?" Sora grabs the bottle, pulls out the cork, and dumps out the letter. He drops the bottle, and unrolls the letter. He scans his eyes along the words, his face a blank. Riku and Kairi look over his shoulder, Riku looking eager, while Kairi looks worried. Sora looks up from the letter, up at the clear blue sky.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

First big Kingdom Heart fic. I've done a few oneshots, but this is quite extended. This is the only part that's done in present tense. Also, a lot of the chapters in the beginning are quite short, less than or about 1000 words, but they'll get longer later. I've prewritten a ton of the chapters already.

And, in case you didn't catch that, things from Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, 358/2 Days, and Coded will be playing a HUGE part in this. But since I've already written a ton of this, I don't care if something released contradicts what I've written, I'm still going to update it. At least, considering anybody actually reads--and reviews--this thing.

In case you didn't catch that, that means that reviews are quite appreciated. I'm not going to say "I want three reviews before I update again," I'm not that mean. But still, I would be very encouraged by reviews.


	2. Dark Beginnings

"Let me go, please, I'm begging!" Tears ran down her face. She gasped as the whip snapped against her arm. As always, she couldn't tell exactly where her torturer was, with the darkness of the room blinding her.

"It can all stop. You know what you have to do. Contact him, and tell him where you are. The moment you do it, I will stop," he said. She judged about where he was from his voice, and spat in his face. She got a lash on her face for it. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this. I suppose I will have to tell him myself."

She heard a portal open, and her torturer left the room, which he called the black spot. Not a drop of light anywhere. Constant darkness, pressing at her, taunting her.

"Please, don't believe him," she whispered, "I don't want you to be hurt, Riku."

-----

In a flash of light, the Way to the Dawn appeared. Riku went into a fighting stance, ready to destroy whoever this guy was.

"I didn't intend to have to fight you, Riku, but if it's necessary, I will easily beat you," said the visitor, a man about a year older than Riku. A red and black keyblade appeared in his grip. It stank of darkness, the smell awakening old memories. "I just wanted to tell you about a certain somebody from your past. A girl, about this tall," he said holding up a hand to his neck. "Black hair, blue eyes, remarkably strong? Ring a bell?"

Faster than any human eye could follow, Riku had put his keyblade to the stranger's neck. "Where is she?" he said through gritted teeth.

The stranger thought about it for a moment, as though he wasn't in danger of being killed. "What place has some of your worst memories, Riku? What place did you attempt to fight off your fear of the darkness?" His foot shifted, and he vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, straight to Castle Oblivion. Riku took a deep breath.

"Xion."

-----

"So you're going off on your own, without anybody to help you, to one of the old headquarters of Organization XIII, where darkness is just waiting to ambush you?"

"That's about it, yeah," answered Riku. The King had come with Donald and Goofy to get the trio, and was appalled by Riku's choice to go off on his own to Castle Oblivion.

"Can you tell us why you're going?"

"It's just something I need to do," Riku said, "There's something I need to check out." He saluted to the King, said goodbye to his friends, and took off in his mini-ship.

-----

As always, Castle Oblivion had a sense of foreboding to it. Riku summoned his keyblade and pointed the tip in the air. The door opened slowly, and swung shut behind him. In the entrance chamber, rather than heading into the first floor entrance, Riku placed his hand on the wall next to it. A flash of light temporarily blinded him.

The top floor still held small remnants of Sora's battle with Marluxia. A few of the pillars had cracks in them, and pieces of marble were scattered over the ground. Evidently, after the defeat here, the Organization had deserted it as a base.

Out of the corner of his eye, Riku noticed a door that hadn't been there before. No light was able to get in or come out. He placed a hand on it, and it swung in.

"If you're here to torture me again, then I want you to know that I will never submit to you. Trying to make me give in is like trying to move a mountain. It ain't gonna happen," said a girl's voice, unable to conceal her fear.

Riku was silent for a moment. "Xion?"

"No, it can't be . . . Riku?"

Way to Dawn appeared in Riku's grip. It gave off a faint glow, just enough to illuminate a girl close to his own age, chained to the wall. "Riku," Xion whispered. With an expert strike, he cut through the chains holding her.

He kneeled down and held her hands. "Are you alright?"

Xion's breathing was shallow and uneven. "Yeah, yeah, I think so." Her face took on a strange expression. "Hit the deck!" she exclaimed, and pulled him flat to the floor. A spear had embedded itself in the wall.

"Strange, I would have thought that your friend the King would have insisted he come with you. Eh, I can still get rid of you," said the stranger Riku had met on the island. He snapped his fingers, and a group of heartless appeared, as though they would be able to defeat him.

That was before flames began to envelope the room. The stranger vanished into a Corridor of Darkness, leaving Riku and Xion to try to keep the heartless away and not get caught in the fire.

"That low-down, filthy . . ." Xion said, and followed with a few more extremely dirty words.

Riku pretended he hadn't heard her. "Any chance you could control these guys?"

"None whatsoever. Besides, these ones are nut jobs. I doubt that even Ansem Seeker of Darkness himself could have controlled them," Xion said. Her eyes swept over the heartless, and her mouth formed words that couldn't quite be heard. She held out her hand, and shouted "Blizzaga!" Ice crystals exploded outwards, putting out the fire near the door and knocking out some heartless in the process. Riku destroyed the rest of the heartless easily, grabbed Xion by the arm, and pulled her out of the room.

"Hey, I can walk on my own, you know," Xion protested.

"Argue later. Can we get out of here?"

Xion rolled her eyes. "Okay then. Were you planning on saying 'Abracadabra' and poof us out? If not, would it kill you to be a bit nicer?"

It took Riku a minute to unbend his pride enough to say, "Will you please take us out of here?" Xion smirked and held out her hand, producing a portal. She pulled Riku through, leaving behind the burning castle.

-----

Twilight Town was in true sunset, where the light from the sun was almost blinding. Riku barely had time to breathe before he was hit over the head by Xion. "Why the heck did you come after me! You could've died!"

Riku held his hands in front of himself defensively. "Hey, whatever happened to 'If I had a heart, I'd be really ticked off right now'?"

"I am not ticked off! I just don't want you hurt trying to help me!" Xion took a deep breath. "Sorry. Thanks for helping me. I don't know, it's just . . . the rules have changed, Riku. Things aren't what they seemed. I can feel."

Riku blinked. "Of course you can feel, that's how that guy was able to torture you. If you didn't feel, it'd be useless."

"I don't think you understand. I somehow succeeded where the Organization failed," she tried to explain. Riku gave her a questioning look. Xion slapped her forehead. "Looks like this isn't the time for subtlety." She grabbed Riku's shoulders. "I have a heart. I have emotions. I can feel sorrow, guilt, joy, love, and every other emotion of the heart!"

Xion

Former number XIV (That's 14) of the Organization. She befriended Axel and Roxas upon entering the Organization, but still remained as an outsider, running away multiple times. Every time was to see a certain boy with silver hair. The morning of the day that Roxas was captured by Riku, Xion decided that she couldn't take the confusion about her lost memories anymore, and escaped from the Castle That Never Was. She was killed by Axel in front of the Twilight Town mansion. Now she has reappeared, her heart returned to her again. What could be responsible for her return?

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Yay, first chapter! A big mystery here, how Xion came back seemingly from the grave. One mystery that shall not be solved for a looooonnnggg time, so far ahead that I have not yet written it. And if anybody's reading this, then I'll try to reply to reviews (one so far! yay!) in the author's notes. If I don't reply, then I either left you out accidentally, or replying fully would require me to disclose a vital plot point. BTW, Sora and Co. are coming in in the next chapter.

NinjaSheik--Yay, thank you for reviewing!


	3. Welcome to Radiant Garden

With Sora at the controls, it took barely any time at all to get from Destiny Island to Radiant Garden. Almost no heartless ships were out, but that didn't stop Sora from kicking up the thrusters a few notches. While Donald and Goofy were already used to the keybearer's unique flight style in the Gummi Ship, Kairi held onto the armrests of her seat like there was no tomorrow, and the King had to cast cure on himself a few times, to ward off any motion sickness.

"Geez, Kairi, you're gonna break your fingers holding on to the chair like that. Relax, I've never crashed once," Sora said.

"How many times have you crashed, then? Fifteen times, twenty?"

"No!" Sora exclaimed. "Twice, to be exact. Once in Deep Jungle, and another time I ran into a meteor. And that one in Deep Jungle wasn't even my fault! Right, Donald? Uh, Donald, what are you doing?"

The duck shouted something incomprehensible and fired a lighting bolt at Sora. He jumped up from the floor and started chasing after Donald, leaving the pilot's seat unoccupied.

Acting purely on instinct, Kairi jumped up, grabbed the joystick-style controller, and maneuvered the ship through a field of asteroids. Sora forgot about Donald to watch as Kairi controlled the Gummi Ship with the touch of a pro.

"Kairi, have you ever piloted a Gummi Ship before?"

"Well, I did watch you when you took it back to Traverse Town that one time. I guess I paid more attention than I realized," Kairi said, and slid out of the seat to make room for Sora.

He checked the navigation system and said, "It doesn't matter much, we're here." He activated the auto-pilot to land, and spun around in his seat. "What I'm wondering is why we're here. Your Majesty?"

"Leon and the others think they may have found something in Ansem's computer that could be useful to us. It's encrypted, and can only be decoded from the inside," he explained.

"So we get zapped into the computer, and figure things out."

"Exactly."

Radiant Garden had a severe lack of heartless. On the way to Merlin's house, only a single shadow appeared, which was quickly dispatched by the town security system. What Sora really noticed were the many different robots wheeling around, making repairs to buildings.

Sora jumped when one of them came up to him, a screen opening on the front of it. A familiar face appeared on it. "Tron!"

"Hello, Sora. It is good to see you again. Leon has asked that you and your friends come straight to Ansem's lab. This TRON droid will take you through a shortcut," said the security program-turned-MCP.

"Thanks, Tron. See you soon," Sora said. The screen blacked out and folded back up. The Tron droid bowed to Sora and started wheeling away, indicating that they were to follow it.

Through the Bailey, at the bottom of the almost completely-restored stairs was a crystal. The robot touched it, and a lift not unlike the ones at the Castle of Radiant Garden appeared. Sora opened the gate, allowing the five of them to enter. The Tron droid went off somewhere else. The moment the keybearer shut the gate, the lift rose into the air and headed to the Postern.

TRON Droid

Robots created by who else but Tron. Thanks to their work, many buildings have been restored in the few weeks since Sora has been to Radiant Garden. While they are polite, bowing to friends of the Restoration Committee, they aren't sentient, and thus do not have much common sense, causing more than a few times where they have run over Cid's feet, causing many colorful terms to erupt from the man's mouth. They also cannot fight, so the town security system remains in place until further notice.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

Not much to say about this chapter. Rather short, I know. But I just wasn't feeling very inspired when I wrote it, and I'm too lazy to try and fix it. Even if I weren't lazy, I doubt I could add very much to it. Um, yeah . . .

NinjaSheik--Yeah, there's going to be some Rion in here. I'm a major supporter. Down with AkuXion! Down, I say! But there's not going to be tons and tons of romance. It's still an adventure, not a romance.


	4. Xion's Tale

"Well, what do you think?" Xion had ditched the black cloak, and went shopping for a new outfit while Riku had stocked up on supplies.

She now wore a black top and pants. She had managed to heal most of the scars from the whip on her arms, along with the one on her face. A few of them were stubborn, and refused to heal completely, but were incredibly faded all the same.

Riku thought she looked absolutely amazing, but wouldn't say it. Rather, he said, "Cool outfit. We should be getting out of here." He had managed to scavenge some gummi ship parts from a pawn shop, and he had made it into a small ship, just big enough for two.

"When you said big enough for two, I thought you meant we'd at least have some breathing room, not end up squashed like sardines." Xion shoved Riku away from her, and took the pilot's seat.

Riku squeezed into the gunner seat. "I was working on a limited budget. Maybe if you hadn't spent so much money on your new clothes."

"Was I supposed to keep that old, torn-up cloak I was wearing?" she asked as she brought the gummi ship into the air slowly. "Wait, don't answer that."

She pulled a small gummi block out of her pocket. She opened up a small compartment under the dashboard and placed it under the flip side. A bright green button labeled "Autopilot" appeared on the control panel. Xion set the destination for the World that Never Was, and hit the button with unnecessary force. The gummi ship changed direction, and started off for the former headquarters of the Organization.

"We have about an hour until we arrive," Xion said, checking some of the instruments. "Hold on a second, I'm psychic," she said, and placed her hands on her temples. "You are going to ask me how it is that I'm alive."

"Yeah," Riku admitted. "It's just, I remember you fading away. You were right there, and then you were gone."

Xion sighed. "To be honest, I have no clue. I remember the pain of Axel striking me, and what happened afterward." Riku coughed, and Xion nodded slightly. "Next thing I knew, I was waking up in Radiant Garden, with all of my memories restored."

"What do you remember? I mean, do you remember how you lost your heart?"

"That memory is one of the clearest. I lived in a big city, full of skyscrapers. One of the biggest pastimes for some teens was trying to leave your tag--graffiti--in the harder spots. Probably the hardest spot was this one wall, right above a store of some sort, owned by some old people. It was across from the high school, so everybody coming out in the afternoon would be able to see your mark. The owners only cleaned off the graffiti one day a year, a bit before Halloween. That made the night before Halloween the prime time for tagging it, so that everybody coming out would see your tag, and only your tag.

"Me and my friends worked together to put marks up. Jessie was strong, so he would hold the rope, and then Oro had eagle eyes, so he would act as lookout, along with handing me bottles of spray paint while I was making the design.

"Anyways, we finally decided to go after the wall. It's dangerous, because it's about fifty feet off the ground with nothing but unforgiving pavement below. We did it the same as always, plenty of prep beforehand. I went down on the rope, and did the outline in black. Oro was handing me the next can when a creature, that I now know to be a heartless, appeared. It climbed up the wall and chopped through the rope.

"I barely managed to grab onto a brick that was sticking out. I felt a cold pain slice through me. I could feel myself falling away, my mind slipping apart. I looked up at my friends, who both had an expression of horror on their faces." Xion's voice grew quiet. "Seeing them like that, I remembered everything we had done together, sticking together through thick and thin. Those memories . . . they strengthened me. I felt like my heart was going to beat out of my chest. It was that, combined with some natural resistance to darkness I have that Namine mentioned to me, that caused me to lose my memories.

"Anyways, everything vanished around me, and the next thing I knew, I was waking up in Twilight Town. It's freaky."

Neither of them said anything. For most of the next hour, Riku just stared out into space, while Xion worked on a puzzle. Finally, the World that Never Was came into view. Walking through the city, heartless came out often, but were destroyed easily.

"So, why are we here again?" Riku asked.

"Just seemed like the right spot," Xion replied. "Instinct." Without another word, she ran off, climbing over the rubble on the right side of Memory Skyscraper.

Riku tilted his head to the side curiously. Suddenly, a yell rang out, followed by Xion dashing over the rock, and right past him. "Run! Run!" Riku looked at the pile, and barely managed to get away from a grey thorn that was sent streaming toward him. Curving around the street corner was a huge nobody, which Riku hadn't even known existed in real life. Twilight Thorn screeched, and charged toward Riku, who was already off like a rocket.

When he caught up to Xion, he said, "I thought that DiZ created Twilight Thorn! That it wasn't a real nobody!"

"Well apparently, the old guy inspired Xemnas to form a new species!"

The both of them slammed right into a barrier the nobody had created. Faced with no other choice, Riku summoned the Way to Dawn, and Xion wrenched a pipe from a building to use as a staff.

There was a flash of white light, and Riku found himself about twenty feet above the ground, his hands and feet held by orbs of dark energy. Xion looked up at him, speechless. Then, Twilight Thorn swirled up to him, slammed Riku between its tentacles, and threw him up in the air. Spinning in the air, Riku aimed his shot, and threw his keyblade at the giant nobody, pinning it down.

The second he landed, Riku started firing off dark energy, while Xion cast all sorts of magic, with a few swats of her makeshift staff in between. Twilight Thorn stood up, on its head, and grey thorns started spurting all over the area. Xion avoided them easily, but Riku had some trouble, and more than once Xion had to cast curaga on him.

Despite its size, Twilight Thorn was relatively weak, and went down after just a few rounds of this. With one final strike from the Way to Dawn, it faded away into darkness.

"Nice fighting," Xion said.

"Back at 'cha," Riku responded.

Xion crossed her arms. "Now, where're we heading now?"

"Radiant Garden. They're probably going nuts trying to figure out what happened," Riku said. Xion nodded, and the both of them headed back to the gummi ship.

* * *

**Author's Note**

First boss battle of the story, and it's basically an exact carbon copy of the Roxas vs. Twilight Thorn battle. Xion only has magic for the moment. Her friends, Jessie and Oro, will be given more than just names later, way later. The next chapter is where the new journey really begins, which you will be able to tell from the chapter title. Um, yeah. Reviews are appreciated.

NinjaSheik: No Tron until the next chapter, I'm sorry to say.


	5. New Journey

"So this entire world is inside a computer?"

"Yep!"

"So what would happen if the power went out while we were in here?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out."

Originally, Sora hadn't wanted Kairi to come along into Space Paranoids. Then she gave him a puppy-dog stare, and he melted like butter in the hot sun. Donald and Goofy came along, but the King stayed on the outside, claiming that he was going to keep watch. Sora had already bet a hundred munny that he would be gone when they left the computer.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were in the outfits they had worn the first few visits to Tron, while Kairi was wearing an outfit similar to her normal one, but it was black and had pink accents. Her leggings and shoes were the same. Her headpiece was like Tron's, but was slightly smaller, with pink accents like the rest of her clothes.

"Hello, Sora." Tron came up to them, and gave Sora a hug. Still really awkward.

"Good to see you, too," Sora said when Tron let go of him.

Tron turned to Kairi. "Who are you? Are you a friend of Sora's?"

She nodded. "I'm Kairi. Nice to meet you, Tron."

After they made their introductions, Tron led them to an area that resembled nothing so much as a giant library. Seriously, Sora couldn't even see the end of the row. "We have to search through all of this?"

Tron laughed, like he thought Sora had made a joke. "Of course not. We know exactly where the information is. There's just a slight problem. Some sort of strange creature has appeared, and attacks me whenever I attempt to approach the data."

"So we destroy it, and you can get it and decode it."

"Precisely." Tron led them down to another row, where Sora saw a huge creature, not quite like a heartless or nobody. It looked like some sort of wolf, except that it was three times the size of a normal wolf.

It growled the second it saw them. "Here's the plan," Sora said, "I'll distract it from the front, Donald and Goofy sneak around the side and attack it, while Tron will go for the data."

"What do I do?" Kairi asked.

"You're going to stay back and not get hurt." But before Sora had even finished his sentence, a barrier went up, blocking off the shelf. Thus, they would have to destroy the wolf if they wanted the data.

The wolf howled, and jumped forward. In one swift movement, Sora jumped toward it, summoned the keyblade, and blocked the bite. "C'mon, that's the best you can do?" Sora teased.

Wrong move.

The wolf howled once again, and an explosion rocked the ground. Kairi noticed how, right after it attacked, it was weak for a moment, and couldn't defend itself. She summoned the Oathkeeper(1), charged forward, and managed to hit it right in the middle of the forehead.

"Out of the way!" Sora yelled. He jumped right over Kairi, and landed on the wolf's back. He grabbed a handful of fur, and held on tight as it started bucking, trying to shake him off.

"Kairi!" Tron shouted out. He threw out a disk, which Kairi deflected with her keyblade right into the beast's stomach. It made a deep cut on the wolf. She noticed a mark of some kind on its underside. It looked a bit like a heart, but wasn't quite like the heartless or nobody symbol.

The force of Tron's identity disk slamming into the wolf sent it tumbling to the ground, and Kairi use the opportunity to stab it right in the middle of the mark. With a final howl, the beast vanished.

With the barrier down, Tron picked the information off of the shelf. "That's strange. It's already been partially decoded. Something about 'the opposite of life'. Strange, don't you think?" Nobody had anything to say to this.

At the end of the hall, slivers of light drew together, and created a computer, which would shorten the distance to the real world considerably.

Sora sighed. "Well, it's been nice seeing you, Tron." He went over to the computer, cracked his knuckles, and made a few keystrokes(2). A beam went over the four of them, scanning them back into the real world.

Back in the computer room, the King was gone as Sora had predicted. Cid stood at the computer, working on downloading the data they had retrieved.

At that moment, Riku walked in. "Just in time," Sora said, and gave his friend a high-five. It was then that Sora noticed the girl that had come in with Riku. She had short black hair and bright blue eyes. She seemed somehow familiar.

Kairi seemed to be thinking along the same lines, because she said, "Have we met? You look familiar."

The girl thought for a moment. "Probably just a coincidence. I'm Xion."

"Well, while you guys were off playing videogames, I was getting nearly killed by some heartless and a huge nobody, and saving a damsel in distress from a Dark Overlord," Riku said.

Xion coughed. "Excuse me, but we don't know who that guy was, and if it weren't for me, you would likely have burned to a crisp in a fire."

"I get it," Sora said, "There's a new bad guy on the loose, and we're going to have to go from one world to the next, trying to figure out what's going on."

Riku and Xion looked at each other momentarily before saying, "Basically," at the same time.

Sora sighed. "Then let's get going, the forces of darkness aren't going to wait for a few teenagers to get going." At that moment, his stomach rumbled. "Although, they may have to wait for lunch."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) I'm not a big fan of that flowery keyblade Kairi had originally.

(2) Sora took some computer classes.

So, yeah, this chapter is the real beginning of the journey. And yes, Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy don't know that Xion was a part of the Organization. That's not for a few chapters. Let's see, the next chapter doesn't have any of these guys in it. The three of them go under the category of "allies they didn't know they had."

I almost forgot, yesterday I saw FF: Advent Children, and it was AWESOME! So much so that I'm going to be bringing in Reno and Rude as guest Final Fantasy characters later! Yayz! And Cid is awesome with that spear! I'm so gonna make him fight some in this! Yayz! Again! Reviews are always appreciated, people!

Xion: Geez, is there ever gonna be a chapter where you don't beg for reviews?

I am not begging. I am simply saying that reviews are appreciated. And I'm not insane for talking to my inner-Xion. Right?


	6. Reunion

The Realm of Nothingness is just that, nothing. A blank as far as the eye can see. Near anybody caught there would go insane quickly. This is not the worst, though. The absolute worst part, is that in the Realm of Nothingness, you shall never grow any older. You will remain in that state of near insanity for all of eternity.

His eyes darted back and forth, looking for something that wasn't there. He closed his eyes, and thought of the few happy memories that had remained with him over the years. Spending time with his friends, fighting enemies with them, that first time he had defeated . . . somebody. The name escaped him, just like all others. He couldn't even recall his own name.

He heard a sound like the ocean. It wasn't exactly that, it just reminded him of the ocean. He looked up, and saw something that looked extremely out of place. Black darkness swirled around in a Corridor of Darkness. He knew that this thing might let him escape. Or he could stay here, forever, in safety. But this chance may never come again, he thought. With a deep breath, he stood up, and walked over to the portal.

Ven passed through, and reemerged in a world he had not been in for eleven years.

Memories flowed into his mind as he looked around. "Terra?"

"No, it's Santa Claus," his friend said. Terra brought his hand down on Ven's shoulder. "Of course, you dingbat!"

Ven rubbed his temples. A headache racked his brain. "What happened?"

"I'm not really sure myself," Terra said. "From what I can tell, the three of us were taken out of commission for a while. You were sealed away in the realm of nothingness, something I haven't figured out yet happened to me, and Aqua went into a coma, never aged at all, then ended up in a town with no memories. A few days ago, I ran into the apprentice, who's alive and just as bad as before."

Ven shook his head. "Dude, I just wanted to know what happened to me! I wasn't planning on getting the entire story! How much time has passed since we fought Xehanort?"

"`Bout eleven years, give or take a few months."

"Where's Aqua?"

"Someplace called Aurora City. It's a big place, but it shouldn't be too hard to find her."

"Yeah," Ven said, "All we gotta do is ask if anybody's seen a girl with bright blue hair."

Aurora City was busy with traffic, tons of people going back and forth between buildings. As night set upon the town, an aurora of light danced along the skies. Somehow, Terra was having trouble finding Aqua. With so many people, it was impossible to talk to anybody for more than a few seconds. He spotted a group of girls his own age sitting around in a park. He went up to them, and he ignored their giggling.

"Excuse me, but I'm looking for a friend of mine. She's about four inches shorter than me, her hair's colored bright blue, goes by Aqua?"

One of the girls, a blonde one with blue eyes, said, "Sure we know her. She's over at the South Side Restaurant. Just across the street." She pointed at a small store.

"Thanks," Terra said, and walked away before any of them could try to ask him out. He grabbed Ven, who was making weird faces in a pond. "Got her."

The restaurant had a clear glass window in the front, so Terra and Ven could easily pick out Aqua, and the boy she was sitting with.

She was holding his hand, softly. She looked so normal, compared to how they usually saw her. Normally, if a guy tried to hold her hand, Aqua would flip them onto their backs, and they wouldn't get near her for a week.

"Let's go," Terra said. "She finally gets the chance for a normal life. We can't take that away from her, Ven."

Ven shrugged. "If you say so, dude."

The both of them walked away, ready to get out of Aurora City via gummi ship.

"I'm sorry, but, I don't think this is going to work out, Mike," Aqua said softly. She held onto his hand. "We just don't have anything in common. I like reading, you like watching TV. I spar with real swords, while you sit at home playing videogames. We're just not enough alike."

Mike clenched his teeth. "You don't really think that, Aqua. We're perfect for each other. Now, give me a kiss."

CRACK! A bright red mark appeared on Mike's cheek. He looked even more ticked than a few moments earlier. "You stupid girl! Everybody else thinks that you're a freak! I look past that, I take you out for dinner a few times, and what do I get for it? A chance to be made into a fool in public." He pushed the table at her, and sent her sprawling to the floor.

Aqua didn't say anything else. Instead, she ran out the door, and ducked into an alley. With a swift movement, she grabbed a fire escape and used the ledges on the building to get up to the roof. Wind rushed past her face, letting her think.

"Who are you?" she said. For the past few weeks, her dreams held strange scenes, where she fought with some boys she had never seen before. One was a bit taller than her, with brown hair, while the other was slightly shorter, with spiky blond hair. Every time, they carried strange swords, almost like keys.

Aqua took a deep breath, and ran quickly along the roof, and jumped the gap. She did this repeatedly, adrenaline running through her system. She grabbed a pole on a building, and spun around, going back the way she came. She was approaching a small-jump, barely six feet, that she had made a thousand times before. Then again, the other times there wasn't a pool of water, just waiting for somebody to slip in it.

And on the ground, Terra and Ven were watching her slip. Terra was off like a rocket, and managed to catch Aqua a moment before she would have hit the ground.

He let go of her, and she dusted herself off. Aqua looked up at him and said, "Are you stalking me or something? Don't think I didn't see you outside the window!"

"Don't I get a thank you? I probably just prevented you from breaking a leg," Terra said.

"I swear, you get more and more annoying every time I see you, Terra," Aqua said, then she realized what she said. "Is your name, Terra?"

Terra raised an eyebrow. "Wow, that didn't happen the way I expected it. Hope you don't mind losing a normal life, Aqua."

Just his name must have opened a floodgate, because she said, "Are you kidding? Why would I ever want to be stuck with a normal life? You must know absolutely nothing about me if you think that's what I'd like." She looked around him. "Is Ven with you?" she asked hopefully.

Ven came around the corner, gasping for breath. "Right here, just, having a heart attack, you know me. Hey, Aqua, do you have any idea how to fix a keyblade?" he asked, and pulled out the handle of his keyblade. It had shattered apart after Master Xehanort had dropped him off the cliff at the Gathering Place.

"Well, considering the magic in it, you probably just have to fit it together like a puzzle, and it'll fix itself."

In thirty seconds, Ven was swinging around his keyblade like it had never broken. "How come I never though of that?" Both Aqua and Terra had an answer to that, but neither one was going to voice it.

"Well," Aqua said, "What's going on? Any huge emergencies in the universe?"

"You don't know the half of it," Ven said.

Terra

Terra is a big guy, who is a great warrior. While searching for Master Xehanort, he worked with Maleficent in that he would search for the Princesses of Heart and bring them back to her to keep them safe. He only got three of them, Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White, before Xehanort kidnapped them himself in his quest for Kingdom Hearts. It was because of Terra that Maleficent found about the other worlds, and began her own quest for Kingdom Hearts. Terra's fighting style focuses on raw power.

Aqua

Aqua is a mage, and the brains of the trio. She was the seventh Princess of Heart, but nobody knew this, as her heart was shrouded in darkness due to events of her childhood, which prevented her light from being detected. Everybody thought that the young girl of Radiant Garden, Kairi, was the Princess of Heart. It wasn't until Xehanort attempted to open Kingdom Hearts did he realize that Aqua was the Princess. After Aqua saw her friends seemingly die, her heart shattered, and her light went to Kairi, who became a true Princess. Aqua and her friends are unaware that she is no longer a Princess of Heart. Aqua's fighting style revolves around magic, and she can control her keyblade with her mind (Think Final Form).

Ven

Ah, Ventus. He is left-handed. Um . . . He hasn't had any of the huge effects on Sora's journey like his friends. Instead, he has done small things. He was the one who snuck the Hundred-Acre-Wood Storybook into Merlin's bag, got a teenage Hercules to work hard to become a True Hero, among other things. However, his greatest moment was when he single-handedly defended the Borough from attack during the Battle of the Princesses, where Xehanort captured Kairi. Ven is extremely fast, rivaling an unbirth in speed.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yay! The original trio! The keyblade knights! If you don't know who I'm talking about, what are you waiting for! Go look up information on Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep! But not on KH wiki! It stinks! Right, yeah. I think I did this chapter pretty well. Yup. Right. As you can see, Terra, Ven, and Aqua had a HUGE effect on Sora's journey. And, yeah. Not much else I can think of to say.

NinjaSheik--Yeah, I like Tron too.


	7. Big News!

Sora swirled around in his seat. "Okay, we're headed to Agrabah, which shouldn't take too long with how close it is to Radiant Garden. Maybe two hours, tops. Now it's time to get down to business. What the heck are we supposed to be doing?"

"When have you ever known what you were supposed to be doing?" Riku asked.

Sora counted on his fingers. "Times three to the fourth power, equals, never. Anybody want to do some sparring?

"I'm game," Xion said, although she wasn't the person Sora was hoping for. Nevertheless, he jumped up, summoned his keyblade, and ran at Xion with it. Instinctively, she ducked down and tripped him up with a small burst of fire. Before Sora could get back up, Xion dashed out of the cockpit, Sora following right behind.

"Wait, ain't there a fighting room here on the gummi ship?" Goofy asked.

"Seriously? Sweet," Riku said, and left to try and find it, leaving Kairi behind. Feeling a bit awkward, she left to try and join Riku.

---

Agrabah was full of people. Some huge event was going on, evidently. Suddenly, a big blue thing came from out of the air and grabbed Sora, Donald, and Goofy in a bear hug.

"What's with all the hugs?" Sora said, trying to get out of Genie's arms.

"Hey, kid, what's up? Never mind that, `cause we've got bigger news! Aladdin and Jasmine are getting married!" Genie said excitedly. He looked at Riku, Kairi, and Xion. In a puff of blue smoke, he changed into a detective and started examining them closely, his one eye huge in the magnifying glass. "Well, this is your best friend-turned-worst enemy-turned-best friend with the strange colored hair," he said with a British accent. Riku looked annoyed at this. "And then this is the lovely Kairi I have heard so much about," Genie said, turning into a suave, secret agent-type with a rose in his teeth. Sora dodged the look Kairi sent his way.

"And who is this?" Genie said, back to normal, to Xion. "Haven't met before? Well, I am the one and only--" Fireworks went off behind him. "Genie! Here's my card." He handed Xion a blue card. She examined it, only for it to grow eyes, nose, and a mouth. In a puff of blue smoke, it turned into Genie. "And you are?"

"This is Xion," Sora said. "She's . . ." He trailed off, not quite sure how to describe her.

"I believe the term you're looking for is 'ally'," she said, slightly put out. "Nice to meet you, I think. But, I thought that djinn were tied to a lamp or bottle? You know, forced to grant three wishes to whoever rubbed the container?"

Donald explained with "Aladdin wished him free with his last wish."

Xion blinked. "What did he say?"

"Al wished me free!" Genie said, swirling high into the air. "Ah, I still love it all! The fresh air, wide open spaces!" He breathed in deeply, and coughed. "Camel dung!" He wheezed, before falling to the ground, little X's where his eye were. He jumped up, right as rain. "Now, who wants to be in a wedding?"

Nobody got the chance to answer his question, for a scream came up from the throngs of people. Heartless appeared, all strong ones. A young man in white jumped down from the top of a building, and sliced through a soldier. He turned around to reveal the one and only, Aladdin. "Sora! Thank goodness you're here." Spinning around again, he destroyed a neoshadow.

Sora, Riku, and Kairi summoned their keyblades, Donald took out his staff and started firing off spells, Goofy burst through the groups of heartless with his shield, and Xion covered her fists with magic sparks, blasting enemies away. None of them did quite as much damage as Genie, who was sending magic spells without a care in the world.

Ten minutes later, there was no fewer heartless than there had been when they had started. "Sora, they're attracted to our keyblades," Riku said, stabbing a Large Body. "If we leave, then they'll go away."

Sora spun around, cutting apart four bandits. "Hold on, let me try one other trick." He called up his drive energy, and focused on his strength. His clothes turned bright red, and the Fenrir appeared in his left hand. He went back into action, using his second keyblade and enhanced strength to cut through the heartless. With both of those elements on his side, the heartless stopped coming so quickly, with eventually Genie destroying the last one with a lazy thunder spell. Sora's clothes changed back to black, and the Fenrir vanished.

Through the streets came a short, plump man wearing an outfit not unlike Aladdin's, with the exception that the man's clothes were not covered with dust, who Sora guessed to be the Sultan of Agrabah. "Oh dear, oh dear, the wedding has been ruined yet again!" he said.

"Again?" Sora said to Aladdin.

"Yeah, we've been having some trouble with party crashers. I guess that you guys can head out of here. Nothing much you can do at this point."

---

Back in the Gummi Ship, everybody was gathered in the cockpit, waiting until they could leave their seats. "Hey Xion," Riku said.

"Uh huh?"

"What was your name, before? I'm just sort of curious."

"Digging down deep, aren't we?" Xion sighed. "It was Oni. But I never really liked it. It was the name in my world for the heartless."

Riku clapped a hand on her shoulder. "It's not that bad. You should use it, Oni."

Xion pushed his hand away, and stood up. She crossed her arms, and shifted her weight to one leg. "My name's Xion. X-I-O-N. Got it memorized?" Just about everybody cracked up.

"Wow," Sora said, "for a second, I thought that Axel had come back from the dead and was having an identity crisis."

The Sultan of Agrabah

Jasmine's father, and effectively the king of Agrabah. He is rather rotund. He tends to get worried for his daughter, but he still is an okay father. First appeared in _Aladdin._

_

* * *

_

**Author's Note**

**First world, and a very short world at that. All I can say in my defence is that I was waiting to get to Terra, Ven, and Aqua's first world when I wrote this, so I rushed through it. I went back later to fix it up, and added all of Genie's changing around when he met Riku, Kairi, and Xion. And I'd like to say that I wrote an entire chapter last night! Normally, I only write a few paragraphs every night, but when I get on a roll, I get on a roll! I could have kept on writing, except it was ten 'o' clock and I'm only in eighth grade.**

**NinjaSheik--I think that Aqua's pretty too. Pretty awesome!**


	8. Short Stuff

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate the cold? Ever since Xehanort froze me solid, I hate it beyond all reason," Ven said. It was too bad for him, because the trio had landed right in the middle of the North Pole. Looking up, he saw that the spot they were in was enclosed by a huge dome of ice, with a hole cut in the top.

"Ven, have you taken a good look at yourself lately?" Terra asked. Ven checked himself over, and noticed how the ground seemed a lot closer.

"I've shrunk!"

"Looks like you've de-aged to me. Maybe five years? What about me?"

Terra was lucky. He looked like he was thirteen. "Only about three years, I'd say. Hey, where's Aqua?"

"Down here," said a rather high voice. Standing at a height of 4 feet, 3 inches, was a nine year old version of Aqua. "I'm seven years younger! I'm puny!"

"You are not that short," Terra argued.

"I'm shorter than Ven!" she shot back.

Terra compared their heights. "Wow, you are small!"

"Hey!"

Aqua sighed. "Well, at least my mind didn't--" Her eyes grew wide. "COOKIES!" Aqua realized what she said. "I'm so ashamed."

Snow covered the ground. Terra, Ven, and Aqua looked around. It looked as though it wasn't kids that were around, but elves. It was easy to figure out when one guy said, "You are two hundred years old. Grow up."

The only person who didn't appear to be an elf was a guy in a red suit. "Santa!" Ven exclaimed. Terra and Aqua both looked at him. "Santa Claus? You gotta admit, it fits. Really cold, elves all over the place. Although, I've never seen Santa Claus playing football."

Indeed, a group of elves were playing Santa in football. It didn't take much for them to get past him and score.

"Terra?" Aqua said, tapping him on the arm. Terra turned his head to see a group of Unbirths heading straight for them, destroying everything in their path.

"Oh, boy. Three wulfs at least, and an ironhide," he said. With their thick skin, an ironhide was extremely difficult to beat. Terra summoned his keyblade, thankful that the magic of it made it change weight so he could bear it easier. Aqua and Ven followed his example.

A scream rang out, which was their cue that they could get into action. Terra spun his keyblade around and drove it into the snow. Chunks of ice sprang up, knocking a wulf off balance. Aqua was already using telekinesis to maneuver her keyblade, attacking from afar. Ven was speeding around, and took out two wulfs in less than thirty seconds.

"Delta!" Terra yelled out, and the three of them surrounding the remaining wulf and ironhide. At Terra's signal, they threw their keyblades at once, and an explosion rocked the surrounding area, utterly destroying the remaining wulf, and sending the ironhide to the ground. Before anything else could happen, Terra summoned his keyblade back to him, and drove the tip into the emblem on the ironhide's forehead. With a final screech, it vanished.

The next second, the three of them were being pushed by a tall elf--that is, tall compared to other elves, but he was the same size as Terra--into a building.

Santa Claus stood inside, but it looked as though he could care less about the trio. The tall elf coughed, and Claus looked at him. "Yes, Bernard?"

"These three have keyblades. Keyblades! You remember what happened the last time a keybearer came here!"

"They don't look like they'd try to wreck all of Christmas. How old are the three of you?" he said, directing the question at the trio.

Aqua looked at the other two, who evidently weren't quite sure how to phrase it. "The three of us are sixteen, but the magic of this world made us younger in order to help us not attract unwanted attention. Needless to say, it didn't work."

"Why are you here?"

"We're looking for this one guy. Black armor, carries a short, black keyblade? This world gives off a lot of magic, so we thought he might come here. Plus, you ruin Christmas, you ruin basically one of the biggest sources of hope for kids," Aqua responded.

"Not here, if he was, he'd be out soon," Bernard said, "Don't let the door hit you on your way out."

"Hold on, Bernard. I've got a better idea," Santa said. "There's this guy coming by here, Jack Frost, and he isn't exactly high up on my list of people I trust. Keep an eye on him, and you can stay here for a bit, make sure that guy in the armor doesn't drop by."

"Deal!" Terra said instantly.

Bernard sputtered, "But, you can't do this! They're going to mess around here!" He looked as though he was going to have a heart attack.

Aqua whispered to Santa, "Is he okay?"

"I ask myself that every day, and I have yet to come up with a good answer," he responded. Before Bernard could try protesting any further, Santa Claus sent the trio out into the hallway, with temporary assignments.

"Who's Jack Frost?" Terra asked.

"Basically, he's the personification of everything winter, minus Christmas. Snow, ice, and cold winds," Aqua replied. She saw the questioning look on Terra and Ven's faces. She slapped her forehead. "Ever hear of 'Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire'?" She cleared her throat, and started singing. "Chestnuts, roasting, on an open fire. Jack Frost, nipping, at your nose."

"Oh, I love that song. Especially that second part," said a cool voice(1). Jack Frost lay a hand on Aqua's shoulder, who backed off quickly. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an appointment with Mr. Claus." When Frost left, the trio didn't fail to notice how their shoes appeared to be frozen to the floor. Aqua cast a small fire spell, just enough to turn the ice into slush.

"Well, it wasn't very 'ice' to meet him, was it? Get it? Ice?" Ven said expectantly. "Aw, my jokes are wasted on you people."

"Come on, comedian, we have some gifts to wrap," Aqua said.

Terra held back a laugh. "Aqua, you have got to stop talking. Your voice, it's so high!"

"Well, excuse me for the laws of the universe, which we have no control over, that nobody has control over, actually."

Both boys just tuned her out. Aqua tended to go into rants about things that nobody really understood more often than Xemnas himself, which was saying something. As they walked to the present wrapping area, Aqua went on and on about the laws of the universe. Luckily, for Terra and Ven, it wasn't too long of a walk.

An elf bounded up to the trio. "Hey, you must be the new guys. We need as many as possible wrapping presents. The machine that normally dispenses wrapping paper and whatnot is busted, so you'll be carrying that stuff to the wrappers."

Terra interrupted him. "I know a bit about mechanics. I might be able to fix that machine if I were to take a look at it."

"That'd be great. It'd speed up the process three-fold." The elf paused, looking past Ven's shoulder. "Curtis? What are you doing down here?"

A serious-looking elf pushed past the trio. "I was told that one of those guys that came here today was smart, and might be able to figure out an organization system for the library."

"That would probably be me," Aqua said, raising her hand sheepishly.

"Then come on, we've got work to do," Curtis said, and left, Aqua following close behind him. Ven started dashing around, taking things to wrappers that need them, and Terra followed the first elf to the machine, and immediately started tinkering with it.

Santa Claus

Formerly Scott Calvin, he became Santa after the last Santa fell off his roof and he put on the coat. He's a nice guy, but doesn't trust Jack Frost as far as he can throw him. First appeared in _The Santa Clause._

Bernard

The head elf. He tends to get worried very easily for Santa, and tends to overreact occasionally. Still, at heart he's a good guy . . . elf . . . something! First appeared in _The Santa Clause._

Jack Frost

The manifestation of everything winter, minus Christmas. He hates the fact that A) He doesn't have a holiday and B) Hardly anybody knows who he is. He has tried to get Frostmas up and running, but got punished by the Council of Legendary Figures and is now working at the North Pole. First appeared in _The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Claus._

Curtis

The number two elf. He is serious, and one of the most intelligent elves at the North Pole, and he knows it. He has helped out quite a bit, but has done as much harm as help. First appeared in _The Santa Clause 2._

Ironhide

A type of unbirth that isn't as fast as other kinds, but has high defense and strength to make up for it. The only was to destroy one easily is to get it dizzy and strike the Unbirth emblem on its forehead. The last part applies to all kinds of Unbirths. It resembles a giant, upside-down top with arms and legs.

Wulf

An extremely fast Unbirth, this thing is the same creature that attacked Sora and co. in Space Paranoids. It can shake the ground with its howling attack, but is left vulnerable afterwards. Think all-white huge wolf for appearance.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) A cool voice. Get it? Get it? Ah, my jokes are wasted on you people.

So, the North Pole. Yeah . . . Uh, what am I supposed to say? I liked writing this, mostly because itty-bitty Aqua has so much potential for funny moments. Sorry, but Charlie and Mrs. Claus aren't appearing in this. And I did put Bernard in, despite the fact that he wasn't in Escape Claus. I just love Bernard! Stupid contract agreements! This is a two-chapter world, as will most of my worlds be, with a few exceptions. There's Radiant Garden, of course, and then there's--

Sora: SHUT UP! That'll ruin the surprise when you get to some of those worlds!

This is a fact. Thank you, Sora.


	9. HUGGLEZ!

Terra had always had a talent for fixing things, so it wasn't long before the wrapping paper and ribbon dispenser was up and running again. The elf who had met them at the entrance to the wrapping room started sending Terra all over the toy factory, fixing machines that hadn't gotten a good tune-up in ages. As it was, Terra was happy with his job, because he was able to go everywhere in the factory and keep an eye out for the apprentice.

When he finished with the giant oven--a loose bolt way in the back--the elf in charge there, Judy, said, "Thank you, we were worried we wouldn't be able to bake this batch of cookies, and the dough would go bad. I believe you're needed in the generator room. It gives power to the entire center area." Terra nodded, grabbed a hot cookie off the counter, and left.

It only took about five minutes for him to find the generator room. The first thing that Terra noticed was how cold it was. It was colder than that type of room should have been. Cold wasn't bad, it kept the generator from overheating, but too cold, and the traces of water would freeze up, messing around with the inner workings.

Terra discovered the reason for the extreme cold in the room three seconds later, when Jack Frost stood up from beside the machine. Terra summoned his keyblade. "You've got three seconds to explain why I shouldn't turn you into a kabob on the end of my blade."

Frost raised an eyebrow. "Well, I've got one idea," he said maliciously.

---

It didn't take too long for Aqua to find a good system for the library, although she almost had a heart attack when she saw how the books were kept. Strew across the floor, spines open, and one even had an old cookie as a bookmark.

After a quick spell to clean up the books, Aqua said, "Curtis, I would say that it would be best to organize alphabetically by title, then if any books have the same title, organize by author's last name. There's far too few subjects to organize with the Dewey Decimal System, and I find it irritating to search for a book of a certain title when they are organized by author's last name only. Also, you may want to create a catalog, if you ever have any free time." Curtis didn't respond. Aqua turned around. "Curtis?"

The elf was gone. The library was gone. The building was gone. And the entire toy factory as she knew it, was gone. In its place was a building that looked more like an amusement park. At the very top was a billboard. "Come to the North Pole! See the real Santa Claus!"

A cloud of snow came at Aqua top speed. When the white cleared, it revealed Ven, who had a panicked look on his face. "What just happened?"

"Two possibilities," Aqua said carefully, "One, this is all a big practical joke, and two, somebody just went back in time and changed something really big. I'm going with the second."

"You're right, Aqua." A guy came up to them. "I'm Santa. Well, I'm actually Scott Calvin. But there's this thing called the Santa Clause, with an 'e,' that says that if Santa Claus dies, then whoever puts on the coat becomes the new Santa. Then there's the Escape Clause, that lets Santa, if he wants to, go back in time and prevent themselves from ever putting on the coat. Jack Frost tricked me into activating the Escape Clause, and grabbed the coat for himself."

"He's telling the truth, I can tell," Ven said to Aqua. He turned to Scott. "How can we set things back to how they were?"

"Scott Calvin, I wouldn't think you would show your face around here." Frost came up to them. Rather, Jack Claus came up to them.

"I was angry, and you took advantage of that. You lousy, low down--"

Frost laughed. "Calling me names isn't going to get rid of me. Neither is it going to make me say the phrase 'I wish I had never become Santa Claus, at all.'" Frost left them.

Scott took a deep breath. "I've got an idea, but I need your help." Ven and Aqua mock saluted him. "Perfect."

---

Frost stood up on stage. "I welcome you all, to the top of the world! The North Pole! I hope that you all have a great time!"

"Same here! I know that I am!" yelled a voice. Scott pushed his way through the crowd, ducked past the guards, and went up the stairs. With a whoop, he jumped off the stairs, and grabbed the crystal chandelier. "Hey Frost, what do you think?" From the crowd, Aqua whipped out her keyblade and cast a quick spell, sending Scott and the chandelier to the ground.

"Scott, heads up!" Ven yelled. He threw a snow globe through the air, headed for Scott.

And Frost nabbed it out of the air. "Nice try, kid. But really, what did you think you could possibly do? The snow globe means nothing if I don't say it."

Scott put on a thoughtful look. "What can't you say, oh wait, I know. You can't say," he said, and took out a pen with a voice recorder in it. He clicked it. Out of it came the voice of Frost. "I wish I had never become Santa Claus, at all." There was a flash of light, and both Jack and Scott vanished.

A trail of light went along the room, wiping out all trace of Frost from it. Elves were doing their normal work. Looking over the Naughty and Nice list was the real Santa. He looked up at Ven and Aqua and winked.

"You know, there's one thing I haven't figured out," Aqua said.

"What's that?"

"Where's Terra?"

As if on cue, Santa came over to them. Bernard was by his side. "The two of you need to come with me. Something's happened."

Many rooms were connected to the center hall. One of these rooms was the generator room. And standing in the generator room, frozen solid, was Terra. His eyes darted around nervously. Aqua stood up on her tiptoes to look at his face.

"Terra, if you can hear me, blink twice," she said. Two blinks. "Was it Frost that froze you? Blink twice for yes, once for no." Two more blinks.

"That's not good," Santa said. "Normal magic won't be able to thaw him out. It takes something special to thaw out Frost's ice." He looked at Aqua, a knowing glint in his eye.

Aqua sighed. "Okay, this might just be my inner nine year old talking, but I do know one thing that can be pretty warm." She took a deep breath, and wrapped her arms around Terra in a hug. In a few moments, ice chips started falling off him. In less than a minute, he was completely thawed out, and hugging back. When they let go of each other, they found that they were close to the same height again.

"Aw, man, I'm short again!" It didn't take a genius to figure out who said it.

"I think we can get going," Terra said, ignoring Ven's comment. "I have a feeling that the apprentice isn't here."

Santa shot a look at Bernard. The elf took a deep breath, and walked up to them. "I'm, sorry about what I said when you first got here." It was clearly painful for him to apologize to the trio. "If it weren't for you, there would have been injuries all around from those creatures."

"We accept your apology," Terra said for all three of them.

---

A half an hour later, the trio was in their gummi ship, ready to get on their way.

"Ven," Terra said, "I actually understand how you feel. I'm still cold!"

Aqua's voice rang out from the cockpit. "You're not getting another hug!"

* * *

**Author's Note**

Okay, I actually have some real things to tell you about this. First of all, that little bit at the end will be the only itty-bitty-bit of TerraxAqua that will be in this fic. There will be no VenxAqua either. How I've written this, the three of them are great friends, and are always loyal to each other, but they couldn't really be any more than that.

The next chapter will return us to Sora and co., where they go to a world based off of a more recent Disney Movie. It's split up into three chapters. Laterz.


	10. Crash Landing

"Okay, everybody, prepare for landing!" Sora announced. Out of nowhere, the ship wobbled to the side. "Okay, that was not me!" He held his hands up to prove his point. The gummi ship flipped over upside down.

"HANDS ON THE WHEEL!" everybody shouted out. Too late. Whatever unseen force that had tilted the gummi ship drew it towards the world, at top speed.

A crash shook the woods as the gummi ship came down. Animals of all kinds scattered out of the trees. From within the wreckage came Sora and Kairi.

"You okay?" Sora said.

"Yeah, I think so. Where are we, anyways?"

"How should I know? It's someplace wet, that's all that I know," Sora said. Slush was melting under their feet as they spoke. Sora climbed up to the top of the gummi ship, and looked out. "It looks like we're at the top of a valley. Let's see, there's a river, and right down at the bottom of the valley, I think there's a camp. Yeah, some people are down there," he said. The keyblade master jumped down. "Come on, we'll probably run into the others on the way."

For a while, the two of them walked silently. Kairi was the first to speak up. "This is creepy. Tell me something about your adventures."

Sora took a deep breath. "Well, I kind of stink at telling stories about things that have happened to me. So I'll tell you a story that I heard in Agrabah.

"Once, at a time so long ago nobody in living memory had yet been born, in a kingdom so far away neither you nor I shall ever visit, there ruled a king. This king was horrible. His heart was thought to be just cold stone. One day, he made a proclamation to his subjects, saying that every full moon night, he would marry a woman of the kingdom, and she would be killed in the morning. For the next six months, he did exactly this. But on the morning of the seventh full moon, a young woman, only about seventeen, volunteered to marry the king. The marriage was done.

"That night, the woman told the king a story, a great story of knights, and kings, and adventures of all kinds. Just as she was about to tell the climax, the sun came up, and she was to be killed. The king, wanting to hear the end of the story, put off the execution. That night, the woman finished the tale and started a new one. As before, she did not finish the story, and her execution was delayed. For a thousand and one nights, she did this. At the end of it, the king's heart had warmed, and he realized that he could not kill the woman, for he truly loved her, and she had grown to love him as time had gone on. The many tales she had told were written down, and are told to this day, in not only Agrabah, but many other worlds as well."

Kairi waited for Sora to go on. "Well?"

"Well what?"

"What happened next? To the king and the storyteller?"

Sora looked at her in disbelief. "Guess."

"They lived happily ever after?"

He smiled. "Yes."

"That's a pretty good story," Kairi said. "I like the moral."

"And that would be?"

"That women are smarter then men," she said, laughing. Sora pretended to look annoyed at her version of the moral, but inside he was smiling at the fact that Kairi had liked the story. He looked up at the sky, shielded by some tree branches covered in snow.

Their was a rustling in the bushes. Out of the bush came a soldier heartless. Sora summoned the keyblade and sliced it in half. Another dozen heartless appeared. "Kairi!" He cupped his hands and gave Kairi a boost in the air. Light formed on the end of her keyblade, and exploded out. Hearts floated out from the destroyed heartless.

"Where'd you learn that, Kairi?"

She shrugged. "I guess it just came naturally."

Sora nodded. "Let's keep going. We might be fine, but I'm wondering how Riku and Xion are doing."

---

At that moment, Riku woke up, and found that he was lying on cold stone. He stood up, and got a shock at what he saw. Statues. Dozens of stone statues. There were animals of all kinds, griffins, fauns, and there was even a giant.

"Sad, isn't it," Xion said, coming out from behind the giant. "These are no normal statues. These were once living beings. Imagine, life taken away in an instant. One moment you're there, the next minute, cold stone."

"That's deep," Riku said. Xion gave a small laugh.

She sighed. "C'mon, we should try and find the others."

"Uh, that might have to wait," Riku said, and pointed at a group of nobodies entering the courtyard. Sparks of magic formed in Xion's hands as she got ready to fight. Riku summoned the Way to Dawn. Xion started firing of thunder, blizzard, and fire spells, while Riku cut through the nobodys easily. A berserker appeared out of nowhere, and knocked Riku to the ground, his keyblade sent skidding over the stone. Xion grabbed it and sliced through the nobodys surrounding her, and with one expert strike, dispatched the berserker.

"Still as good as ever," Riku said as Xion gave him his keyblade.

"But nothing compared to you," she responded. "Let's go. While you were waking up, I took a look around, and there's an encampment about three miles away. Shouldn't be too hard to get there."

"Of course, three miles is nothing," Riku murmured. Xion ignored his comment, and started walking, pulling him along with her.

---

By the time Sora and Kairi reached the camp, all of the sleet had melted away. Spring was in the air. It looked as though the people at the camp were suiting up for war. People wasn't exactly the right term. They saw animals of all kinds, centaurs, fauns, griffins, naiads and dryads, and all other sorts of beings.

Eyes were drawn to Sora and Kairi, as well as Riku and Xion, who had arrived mere minutes after them. A young man, no older than Sora, came up to them.

"Who are you, and what is your purpose here?"

"Peter, don't be rude," said a girl perhaps a year younger than Peter. "Welcome, my name is Susan."

"I'm Sora, and this is Kairi, Riku, and Xion. Right now, we're looking for some friends of ours, Donald and Goofy." Hearing their names, Donald and Goofy burst out of a tent and tackled Sora.

Suddenly, a sound like a drumbeat brought them to attention. Everybody in the camp bowed down on one knee. From a tent, came the single largest lion Sora had ever seen. But he could have been the size of a kitten. The aura he gave off made him seem like the single most powerful being Sora had ever met.

The great lion came over to Sora. "The keybearer, Sora of Destiny Island. I welcome you and your friends to Narnia. I am Aslan. If you will, come with me." Aslan turned and walked, Sora following silently behind him.

The area Aslan led Sora to was a cliff, overlooking a beautiful sea. Light glimmered off it, and Sora could make out a castle sitting on a bit of land, a way off.

"I have traveled this world over, and I have yet to find a more beautiful spot than this, at sunset," Aslan said. "As the keybearer, you know of the laws of the universe, which say that the keybearer mustn't meddle in the affairs of other worlds."

Sora swallowed. "I understand. You want me to leave. I'm sorry, Aslan."

"Allow me to finish," the great lion said. "You know those laws, but that does not mean that you must follow them. Many a keybearer has chosen to follow their hearts instead, and this has lead them to happiness in their lives. What does you heart say?"

"It says, that I should help those in need, no matter what it takes."

Aslan nodded. "Then know this. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy are destined to become the new Kings and Queens of Narnia. As we speak, the White Witch gathers her army, and intends to wage war upon us. If you find an opportunity tomorrow, then fight, and fight well."

Sora sighed. "Aslan, you make me sound as though I can do much more than I can. I'm just a kid. I'm no hero. Every time I've won, it's been because of my friends."

Aslan turned to face Sora. "Kneel." The keybearer obeyed. "You have far more power in you than you are aware of. And the fact that you know it is your friends that help you makes it all the greater. Be strong, Sora." A wisp of air passed through Aslan's lips. He breath gave Sora a strange sense of courage.

Sora stood up. "Thank you, Aslan." With a bow, Sora left Aslan.

Peter

The eldest of the Pevensie Siblings, and the soon-to-be High King of Narnia. He fights with a sword and a shield with the image of a lion on it. He is one of the greatest warriors in the universe, and could probably give Terra a run for his money in a straight sword-on-sword fight, no magic allowed. First appeared in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_.

Susan

The second-oldest Pevensie Sibling. She is very sensible. Her gifts from Father Christmas was a bow and a magical horn that will bring help when it is blown, no matter what. First appeared in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_.

Edmund

The second-youngest Pevensie Sibling. He worked with the White Witch, with the hope of becoming Prince (And later King) of Narnia, and an infinite supply of Turkish Delight. By ancient magic, all traitors belong to the White Witch, but Aslan could have a plan that would save Edmund. First appeared in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe_.

Lucy

The youngest Pevensie Sibling. She was the first of the four to enter Narnia through the magical wardrobe, but became upset when nobody believed her. Father Christmas gave her a dagger, not intending her to fight with it, and a special cordial made from the dew of a special flower, that will heal almost any injury or cure almost any disease. She first entered the magical world of Narnia in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe._

Aslan

The great lion, the true king of Narnia. His life is interwoven with that of all of the great heroes of Narnia. He first appeared in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe._

_

* * *

_

**Author's Note**

Sorry it took so long for an update, I got Final Fantasy X over the weekend, and I love it so much! It's so awesome! Especially for a turn-based game. Now that I think about it, I could have taken a break.

Sora: coughcoughaddictedcough

Would it kill you to stop that?

Sora: *stares at me* hmmm. *falls backward with X's in his eyes*

Curaga! I can't have you dying!

Badhraa--Yeah, just as a warning, Reno and Rude aren't showing up for, oh, thirty chapters? Something like that. Quite likely much more than that, if all goes according to plan.


	11. Triumph of the Witch

Kairi wandered through the woods, just outside of the encampment. A dryad bowed to her, and at first, she was confused.

"My princess, I can feel the pure heart that beats within you. I honor your light," the dryad explained. Kairi blushed.

As she went through the forest, never too far from the encampment, she spoke sometimes with a dryad or naiad, even the occasional talking animal. Before she knew it, the sun had dipped below the horizon, and the sky grew black.

Kairi pushed past the leaves gently, trying to find the camp again. A torch danced through the woods, drawing her to it. When she finally found the source of the light, she gasped. Gathered around a table of stone, was monsters of this world, plus heartless. Standing on the table was the worst of all of them. Kairi knew it had to be the White Witch herself. And laying on the table, bound head to foot, was the great lion, Aslan. His great gold mane had been shaved off, leaving him looking far different than what Kairi had seen before. Some force she couldn't name kept her from pulling out her keyblade and attacking the creatures surrounding the Stone Table.

The White Witch began to speak to her followers. "Prepare for a new day, where we shall rule Narnia! Did this great cat believe he might stop me! Ha!" The witch then said words directed at Aslan, and Kairi had to strain her ears to hear. "Understand that you have given me Narnia forever. You gave up your own life, and did not save those of any others. In that knowledge, despair and die."

Kairi did not see the actual moment of the killing. She had covered her eyes, but still heard the awful sound of a knife slicing through the air.

As she crouched in the grass, she heard the White Witch call out to her army. "Come now! We shall end this war, and destroy them all, now that the fool Aslan lies dead!" Monsters shouted out in triumph, and followed the witch. Many of them were inches away from Kairi. When the forest grew quiet again, Kairi stood up and looked over at Aslan. Unsurprisingly, she found both Susan and Lucy, who she had met earlier, trying to undo the muzzle on the great lion.

Quietly, Kairi called her keyblade, which gave off a faint light. She went over to them, her face as stone cold as the stone table itself. Kairi pointed the Oathkeeper at the muzzle, and it came unlocked with a few twisting of the bolts on it. It fell off, and both Susan and Lucy started crying horribly.

Kairi backed away, upset by what she saw. I could have fought, she though, I could have stopped them. Once she was out of sight, tears flowed freely. That night, Kairi cried more and more, until she felt as though she had no more tears in her. The sun began to creep over the horizon, and Kairi realized that the fight would be starting soon, and nobody knew what had happened.

Without any wind, petals flew down from a tree, arranging themselves into the form of a young woman. Kairi figured it must be a dryad, in its spiritual form. "Can you take a message for me?" she said. The dryad nodded. "Tell Peter that the White Witch is on the move, and prepare the Narnians to fight." The petals flew away in the direction of camp.

Suddenly, the sound of stone breaking filled the air. Kairi ran as fast as her legs could carry her back to the Stone Table. What she saw absolutely amazed her. Aslan was alive again, and he was dashing all around the clearing, Susan and Lucy chasing him joyfully. Kairi could feel magic in the air. She realized that, for some reason or another, Aslan had allowed himself to be killed. Had she interfered, both she and Aslan would have died for good.

Kairi watched as Susan and Lucy climbed onto the great lion's back, and he took off faster than anything Kairi had ever see.

With nothing else to do, Kairi headed back to the camp, in the direction the dryad had gone. War was approaching, and they were going to fight.

The White Witch

The last queen of Charn, which she destroyed herself. She is extremely evil. After coming to Narnia, she established herself as Queen, took control of the dwarves among other dark beasts, and cast horrible magic that makes it always winter but never Christmas. She first appeared in _The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I'm posting 2 chapters today, so the author's note is in the next chapter.


	12. War

At the sound of a horn, Riku jumped up and out of the tent he had been provided. He stood out of the way as five centaurs thundered by him, bows drawn and ready for battle.

The sun had barely begun to creep over the horizon, but one might have thought it was noon with all of the activity taking place. Riku dashed through the camp, and found Xion handing out arms to those who could carry them. When the crowd thinned out a bit, she went with Riku, looking at the two armies approaching each other.

"I hate to be negative," Xion said, "but we don't stand a chance." It was true. Compared to the size of the witch's troops, the Narnians looked absolutely petite. The two of them watched as, for a moment, all was quiet. Then, chaos broke through. Archers released arrows, swordsmen struck, and animals bit over and over again. The witch stood, loosing spell after spell, changing many of the Narnians into statues.

Riku drew the Way to the Dawn and jumped into the fray, while Xion started casting spells of all kinds, ones that would search out the enemies. Eventually, she had to abandon offensive magic and go with cure magic constantly.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted the one boy, Edmund, bring his sword down on the witch's wand, which was apparently the source of her magic. With no magic, she took out a stone knife, knocked away Edmund, and started dueling Peter. Even with a magic-less White Witch, they were far outnumbered.

A lion's roar ripped through the air. Coming into the battlefield, led by Aslan, were a few hundred Narnians. The witch looked on in shock. "I will not be defeated," she said through gritted teeth.

She saw an opening, and disarmed Peter with her knife. She raised it, preparing to give the final blow, when out of nowhere, Sora caught it with the teeth of the keyblade. "I've got her, go!"

Peter scrambled away, and Sora pulled his keyblade away, knocking the witch off balance. She again raised her knife into the air, keeping Sora at bay. "You little boy, why would you ever think you could defeat me?"

"I might be a kid," Sora admitted, continuing to fend off the witch, "but I've done more than somebody three times my age!" He jumped back, and threw his keyblade, point first, at the White Witch. She screamed as the keyblade struck her in the heart. The witch vanished in a flash of white light. The light blasted outwards, washing the battlefield with magic. It destroyed every heartless it touched, and cleared the urge to fight from the two armies.

For the second time, Aslan roared, but it sounded much closer to Sora than before. The lion shook the land as he landed, almost silently. "You have fought well, keybearer," Aslan said.

---

Kairi turned over the charm in her hand. Aslan had given it to her, with the instructions to use it if she ever needed his help. It looked like a lion's head.

"Nice summon," Sora said, sitting down beside her. "They're really useful sometimes."

"How do I use it?"

Sora thought about it for a second. "I guess, it's sorta like magic. You focus on it, imagining that the ally it summons appearing."

"What summons do you have?"

"Plenty. More than I need, actually. You can borrow a few, if you want to," Sora said, and pulled out three summon charms. "I don't use them very much. There's the nature spark, it summons Bambi, and the baseball and feather charm, they call up Chicken Little and Peter Pan." Kairi looked at the charms, and decided on the nature spark and baseball charm. She placed both of them into her pockets, along with the lion charm.

"Sora, there's something I've been thinking about lately."

"And that would be?"

"What was Riku talking about, Xion's name 'before' something?"

"Curious killed the cat, Kairi." They jumped at the sound of Xion's voice. "There's a long version of the story, which contains many unnecessary details, so I'll tell you the short version. I was attacked by heartless last year, Riku destroyed them, but the trauma gave me amnesia. I chose a new name, and helped Riku with some stuff, and I regained my memories about a month ago when I revisited my hometown. I just want to stick with my new name."

* * *

**Author's Note**

Xion's a liar! Bad girl, Xion, bad girl. Am I insane?

Riku: Completely.

Okay, I just wanted to make sure. These chapters were short, I know. I wanted to put two chapters up for three reasons. 1) They were both short. 2) I didn't put any chapters up over the weekend. 3) The next chapter has something awesome in it, and I don't want to reveal it, but I wanted something to look forward to after doing both my Watergate speech in English and Track Practice. Oh, I swear, I'm gonna burst from excitement!

Badhraa--I've been thinking about that, but I'm not entirely sure. And thanks, it's nice to know that people like my writing.


	13. An Old Friend

"Prepare for landing! And I promise that I won't let go of the wheel this time," Sora said, keeping both hands on the controls. He expertly landed the gummi ship, activating the cloaking device Cid had given him back in Radiant Garden.

"Where d'you think we are, guys?" Goofy asked, looking around. They were in a town, about the size of Radiant Garden. It looked a bit like Twilight Town, with the whole peaceful mood everywhere.

After a bit of exploring, they found that the world was called Sunrise Beach. As the name suggested, there was a beach on the east side of town, where you could see a beautiful sunrise.

"So then, let's see what's wrong here," Xion said, sounding ready to kick some heartless behind. Riku tapped her on the shoulder. She looked in the direction he pointed, and her face paled. "Oh no."

"What? Is it a heartless?" Sora said, ready to summon the keyblade.

"So, the great keybearer himself. Interesting to see you here." A guy with spiky, red hair walked up to them casually.

As usual, Sora had no idea what was going on. "Do I know you?"

Xion's jaw dropped. "Wait one moment. Sora, you have no idea who this is?"

"I don't think so. Should I?"

Both Xion and the red-head looked shocked beyond all reason. Xion placed a hand on his shoulder. "Does anybody here besides Riku know who this is? Spiky red hair, green eyes?"

Sora, Kairi, and Donald had no clue. Goofy, however, was examining the man with great interest. He snapped his fingers. "You're that Axel fellow's Other, aren't 'cha?" Sora and Donald looked shocked, Kairi looked ticked off, and Xion looked relieved.

"I go by Ale now, but yeah, I am. Before you ask, I don't know how I'm alive again. All I know is that I was dying, everything went black, and I woke up here in Sunset Beach."

"Can you still use your pinwheels?" Sora asked, retaining his ever-present stupidity.

"They're called chakrams, and yes, I can. That's how I've been keeping this place safe from the heartless and nobodys that have been showing up. That, and my gift with fire," he said, making a small flame in his hand, which turned into one of his trademark chakrams. Sora noticed how Xion flinched at the sight of it, but didn't mention it. Ale looked over his shoulder. "Speaking of heartless."

A dozen heartless appeared, but not just a few shadows or soldiers. These were darkballs and invisibles, strong and ruthless. Sora jumped into action, cutting down enemies easily. One of Ale's chakrams flew by him, destroying a heartless then coming back like a boomerang. It took less than a minute to get rid of the heartless.

"There's no way that can be it," Sora said, still on the alert. It was a good thing, because a barrier went up, cutting Ale and himself off from everybody else. A giant heartless appeared, with the appearance of a swordsman. Its sword was huge, easily five feet long.

It swung the sword, almost chopping Sora's legs off. Instead, he jumped slightly, avoiding the sword, and used the blade like a springboard, and stabbed the heartless between the eyes. Out of nowhere, it blasted him with dark energy, rocketing Sora backwards.

"Ale!" he called out after casting cure. Ale threw one chakram straight at the heartless, but threw the other at an angle, allowing Sora to use it for a boost, again slicing at the heartless's face. When another burst of dark energy came at the keyblade master, he managed to dodge it, and dropped to the ground. Sora shot a look at Ale, who nodded. Sora drew upon his magic, focusing on a memory of a roaring fire at Christmastime. "FIRAGA!"

A blazing inferno swirled around them, incinerating the heartless and much of the street. The heartless left behind a fire charm. Sora scooped it up, and focused on it. The charm vanished, and a new knowledge of magic appeared in his mind. Firagun.

"Right, amazing, thanks for helping out--" Ale stopped. His eyes were trained on Xion. A slight smile crept across his face. "There's no way. I thought it was just a fluke or something with me, something that wouldn't happen again." Xion drew a hand across her throat, in the universal gesture for "STOP TALKING!" But Ale continued on, like he hadn't seen it. "Didn't think that any other member of the Organization made it."

In less that two seconds, Sora had his keyblade at Xion's throat. "You're part of the Organization?!"

"I was. Then I was killed by Mr. I-can't-keep-my-mouth-shut over there, and now I have my heart back."

Sora didn't relax his grip. "Sure, but you were still one of them! A nobody!"

Xion breathed deeply. "Sora, I must say, you are one of the most narrow-minded individuals I have ever met in my life. Just like those people who think light is always good, and darkness is always evil. Back to what we were talking about, Sora, if you are going to attack me just because my nobody was part of the Organization, then there are two other people you should attack here. There's Ale, of course. And then, there's yourself. Or did you forget about Roxas?"

After a long moment, Sora dismissed his keyblade. "Sorry. Wasn't thinking."

"No. You weren't," Xion said, and left him feeling insulted.

Ale

Axel's Other, somehow come back from the dead. He can use his chakrams and his "gift with fire" still, unlike Xion, who cannot use the Kingdom Key. He lives in Sunrise Beach, a town quite a bit like Twilight Town. His appearance is a bit different from his nobody. His hair isn't quite as spiky, and is a darker shade of red, and his eyes are slightly less slanted, but otherwise looks the same, down to the tear-drop tattoos under his eyes. First appeared in _Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_ . . . sorta-kinda.

* * *

**Author's Note**

*smiling widely* Well? What did I say? I think that Axel--ahem--Ale coming back to life is a pretty big deal. By the way, when I was editing this story, the chapter where Terra, Ven, and Aqua reunited was originally two chapters, but I combined them because they were both too short. So this chapter was originally Chapter 13. Spooky, huh? I didn't even mean for that to happen. So, yeah . . .

Also, the bits in the fight with the Warrior Heartless (okay, I made that up on the spot) were the Reaction Command: Boost and Ale's Great Balls of Fire.


	14. Dreams and Promises

Ven's blue eyes opened slowly. He didn't move at all, letting his dream soak in. He grabbed a notepad off the table next to his bed, and started scribbling furiously.

"I had a dream last night," Ven said to his friends, slapping the sheet of apparent doodles down on the dashboard. Aqua remained absorbed in her book, and Terra grunted, continuing to steer the gummi ship with his feet. Ven rolled his eyes. "I had a foresight dream." Aqua slammed her book shut, and Terra flipped on the autopilot.

"What's this supposed to be? A Flying Spaghetti Monster(1)?" Terra said, examining the sheet of drawings. Ven coughed, and turned it right-side up. "Oh."

Aqua ran her hand over a drawing, and gasped. "Be right back," she said, and dashed off to her room for a book.

"Where does she store all of these books?" Ven asked to nobody in particular. Terra shrugged. Aqua rushed back carrying a heavy tome. The blonde leaned over and examined the cover. "I can't read that. What language is it, Chinese?"

"It's runes, Einstein, and for a good reason. The author of this book recorded many magical spells and otherwise in it. He only wanted a great sorcerer or sorceress to be able to reference it, and only the greatest of magicians can read these types of runes. And me, of course(2)." Aqua pulled open the book to a marked page. She scanned it over quickly. "Here it is. It's a legend, mostly. It tells of an extremely powerful magical object. 'The Heartstone first appeared in history a few hundred years after the creation of the keyblade. Wars were fought over its great power, which remains unknown to this day.' The next few runes I can't make out." Aqua looked over it a bit more, and pointed something out. "Let's see. 'The fighting for it became so intense, eventually, a keyblade master, whose name has been lost to history, shattered it into four shards, and gave each shard to one person, who could be trusted with the power of it. For even separated, the Heartstone's magic was strong.' It doesn't say much else after that. But look at this." The picture on the page was exactly like the drawing Ven had made.

Terra leaned back in his chair. "Maybe that's what the apprentice is searching for. So we have to find the shards before him."

"Exactly," Aqua said, and slammed the book shut.

---

"Ah, yes," Ven said, breathing in deeply, "I love the smell of monsters in the morning. I wonder how Herc's been doing. Last I checked, he was a weakling, with no fighting skills at all."

At that moment, a young woman in a pink dress came from the Coliseum. She looked over at the trio, and tilted her head in thought. A slight smile crossed her face, and she called out to somebody in the lobby. The door opened once again, and out came a man in leather Greek armor. He ran over to the trio, but when he had a closer look at them, his expression grew confused. "Have we met before?" Hercules asked Ven.

Ven blinked. "Yeah, remember? I helped prevent monsters from destroying the Coliseum eleven years ago? Stop pulling my leg, Herc."

The hero shook his head. "I think that you're confusing me for somebody else. Besides, how old were you eleven years ago? Three, four?"

"Five, for the record. Besides, I'm sure that I know you! Look at my sword," he said, summoning his keyblade. Hercules admitted that it did look familiar, but couldn't recall where he knew it from. He left the three of them. "That was odd," Ven stated flatly. "Either of you know how that thing happened?"

Neither of his friends had an answer. Suddenly, Terra cried out, "Look!"

Aqua jumped on his shoulders and looked in the direction he was facing. "What?!"

Ven jumped on top of Aqua's shoulders. "Who?!"

Terra grunted. "Too, heavy!" The trio went toppling to the ground in a dog pile.

Mickey spun around. He saw them, and something like an electrical shock went through him. Aqua stood up and dusted herself off. "What's wrong, Mickey? You look like you've seen . .." She stopped, realizing how stupid that sounded. After all, he had last seen the three of them eleven years previously.

He shook his head. "Sorry. Just wasn't expecting to run into the three of you," he said to Aqua, but his eyes were trained on Terra. "Aqua, Ven, do you mind if I talk to Terra for a moment, alone?"

After Aqua and Ven had gone inside, to enter the tournament, Mickey immediately summoned his keyblade. "I never would have thought it was you, Terra."

Terra's face grew stone cold, his eyes filled to the brim with black hate. "What are you angry about? What I've done, or what I haven't done?" he said quietly.

"What do you mean," Mickey asked, "you haven't--" He stopped, and his look turned to one of disbelief. "You didn't tell them?"

"Of course not. They wouldn't trust me ever again."

"If they find out on their own, they'll never trust you. Besides, maybe if you explained, they would--"

"They would what?!" Terra demanded. "Understand, and still treat me the same? We were to the point of friendship eleven years ago, and you are threatening me!"

Mickey was speechless. This Terra was different. Something had changed, and yet, other parts had stayed exactly the same. Something about how he was acting . . .

"Fine then. I won't tell them, Terra." Mickey dismissed his keyblade, and dashed off, leaving Terra steaming mad.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a made-up god, if somebody says they believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster with his noodly appendages then usually that means that they feel silly, or they don't believe in any specific god.

(2) As in, Aqua can read the runes even though she isn't a magnificent magician the likes of Master Yen Sid or Merlin.

So many mysteries . . . What could Terra be hiding behind those blue eyes? Where was he during those eleven years, what could Mickey be speaking of? How does Hercules not remember Ven? What powers could the Heartstone have? Why am I asking you all these questions?

I should probably explain Ven's whole foresight deal. Occasionally, he'll have a dream where images will fade in and out, and when he wakes up, he can draw the images. The few times that he's had them, the three of them have worked to decipher the images, as they will--no arguements about it, WILL--indicate something that will happen in the future. Most often, they can't figure it out or the vision comes to pass in a way that they didn't think. For example, shortly before Master Xehanort's betrayal of the keyblade warriors, Ven drew a roaring fire. The trio thought it was just a bonfire of some sort, and ignored it. It turned out to be the fire consuming the buildings when Xehanort attacked the Gathering Place on the night of the Gathering, where the keyblade warriors came together once every five years for apprentices to be knighted and masters to choose new apprentices. Okay, I'll stop blabbering now.


	15. Dreams and a Love

_I like the dreams of the future better than the history of the past._

_-Thomas Jefferson_

Sora was used to having strange dreams, but this was different. The magic of the Station of Calling had been replaced with a horrible tension, like a rubber band, stretched and stretched, about to snap.

Three fighters in armor, a girl and two boys, stood waiting for something. All three of them held keyblades. An old man approached them, a malevolent look on his face. A shade of sorts came from the man, and another fighter appeared, wearing black armor, carrying a short black keyblade.

The tallest knight ran forward, keyblade out, and jumped into the air to attack the old man. The man brought his hand into the air forcefully, bringing a pillar of earth with it. The knight fell to the ground as another pillar came into the air, carrying the old man and the black-armored fighter with far above the knight. A strong blast of thunder magic came down with the dark warrior, distracting the knight as the other rushed by.

The girl then ran after the dark fighter, along with the shorter knight. Meanwhile, on top of the cliff, the old man made a motion with his hand, bringing many of the keyblades dug into the ground into the air.

As the black-armored fighter dashed along, fighting the two knights, he flipped on top of a bunch of keyblades, riding it like a skateboard, and sending blizzard magic whizzing away. The tallest knight went after the old man, sparring with him, sparks flying everywhere. Soon, he was overpowered, and was sent skidding over the side of the cliff. He dug his keyblade into the rock, trying to slow his fall. All he accomplished was bringing a huge chunk of rock with him.

The rock slammed into the girl knight, who was sent flying into a crater. The impact shattered her helmet, revealing bright blue hair. She grabbed her keyblade and pointed it into the air. A blast of energy went toward the shortest knight, who was being barraged by the old man's keyblades. A reflega spell protected him, and the force of the keyblades pushing him high into the air, before finally exploding, launching the knight out of sight.

Less than a minute later, he reappeared behind the old man, trying to catch him from behind. Faster than the eye could see, the old man grabbed the knight by his helmet, cracking it to pieces. A shard came off the visor, revealing a bright blue eye. Dark magic enveloped him, then a strong blast of ice, freezing the knight solid. The old man dropped him off the side of the cliff, pieces of armor and keyblade breaking off against the rock.

The knight landed on the girl. She looked into his face, his blue eyes barely moving. He looked almost identical to Roxas.

The old man's keyblade transformed into an orb of darkness, which shot into the air. Clouds dispersed, revealing Kingdom Hearts. The girl looked up at the light, her expression indescribable. The tall knight ripped off his helmet and stared at Kingdom Hearts, his eyes changing from light blue, to the familiar yellow of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Xemnas.

Sora gasped for air as he awakened. For a moment, the golden yellow eyes haunted him, staying in his mind. He tossed the blankets off, and left his room on the gummi ship, not bothering to get his shoes on.

He was about to enter the cockpit when he heard voices coming out. Riku and Xion. Sora looked around for a moment before listening in carefully.

---

"You okay, Xion?"

Xion shot Riku a look as though he were insane. "Riku, you do know that Sora despises me, correct?"

Riku shifted in his seat. "Xion, don't ask me to talk about stuff like that. Sora's been my best friend since we were in diapers. Talking like that, it's harder than what I had to do to Roxas." He realized a moment later what he said.

"You cared about a nobody?" Xion asked skeptically. "Or was it the fact that it was your friend's nobody, and you felt like you were fighting Sora?" Her eyes widened. "Now that I think about it, you had dozens of chances to capture Roxas before you did it."

Riku took a deep breath. "I don't know. I knew that if I didn't capture Roxas, then I would be letting Sora down, practically betraying him again. But DiZ's plans . . ."

"Right, he needed a hero that could move through the Realm of Light freely, who could destroy," Xion said, and it snapped into place, "who could destroy Organization XIII."

"Exactly. And because of that, I was afraid--"

"That he would destroy me as well, regardless of what you said." A solitary tear ran down her face. "I didn't know that you cared so much, Riku. That's why you said that thing, about returning to my true self. You didn't want me to be hurt."

Riku smiled. "Never thought you would figure it out. You're not like other girls, Xion." He put a hand on her shoulder, and looked into her eyes. They drew close together. Nothing could ruin this moment.

Except, of course, the door falling open, with Sora, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy in a dog pile, who had obviously been listening in to the past few minutes. Riku and Xion looked shocked for a moment, then before anybody saw what happened, Riku had drawn his keyblade, and sparks of electricity gathered on Xion's fingertips.

"You have five seconds to run," they said in unison. The eavesdroppers wasted no time in running at top speed into hiding spots.

Xion laughed. "Do they do that often?"

"Sora, definitely. There was this one time," Riku started, but stopped when he realized that Xion wasn't listening. He looked at the locater. "Don't know why we're going back to Radiant Garden, but whatever."

---

Sora and co. had managed to pretend that the incident in the gummi hadn't happened, but that didn't prevent Riku from avoiding eye contact with anyone. Annoyed by the silence, Sora said to Xion, "So, I've been wondering something."

"Uh huh," Xion said absently.

"You and Axel both came back, right? What if, it wasn't just the two of you?" Sora said. Xion looked up curiously. Sora continued. "What if, some of the other Organization members came back after they were destroyed?"

At that precise moment, a shadow appeared in front of Sora. Faster than any human eye could see, a bullet whizzed past, skewering the shadow.

Xion turned to Sora. "You just had to say that, didn't you? You know how, if things are going wrong, and you say 'Things couldn't possibly get worse' it instantly starts raining? That's what you did, right there."

"Huh?"

She slapped her forehead. Turning away, she called out, "Xigbar, get out here! I'm not stupid, I know you're there."

"What's up," somebody said from behind them. They spun around, and Xion pushed past everybody else. The guy was about three inches taller than Riku, if he had stood up straight. Rather, he slouched against a wall, reloading a gun. "By the way, my name's Braig. And I'm proud of it."

"Well, whoopee for you, Braig," Xion said, spitting the name out. "Please tell me you're the only one that came back of the original six."

"Nope. No clue what happened to Xehanort, but me, Dilan, Even, Aeleus, and Ienzo are all around, and helping out the Restoration Committee," Braig said, his gun vanishing.

Sora scoffed. "Leon let you guys help when less than a month ago you were trying to destroy the universe? As if!"

"Hey!" Braig exclaimed. "No stealing my catchphrase. It was irritating enough when Roxas did it, I don't need his other doing it too."

Braig

Xigbar's Other. He became Ansem's apprentice after he designed a gun with practically infinite ammo, which later was the base design for Xigbar's snipers. He doesn't have a missing eye, but is instead is blind in one eye, the remnant of a plague which had hit Radiant Garden when he was seventeen. He is twenty-four currently. In some way or another, like the other apprentices, Xion, and Ale, he came back from the dead, and can still use his snipers and powers over space. He first appeared in _Kingdom Hearts II_, in a manner of speaking.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Well, there you go. The apprentices--as in, numbers II through VI--are back. The rest of them are showing up in the next chapter. I'm also trying out putting in quotes at the beginning if they fit in some way, or they just sound cool.

I NEED A HUG!!!

Sorry, before this I read the most recent chapter of Prince of Heart Remix, by TLSouldude (if you haven't read that, READ IT NOW! It rocks!) and I have a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Something bad happened to a character in one of two ways, and either way would be bad, but one would be HORRIBLE!!! Mommy . . .

Braig: Well, she's officially lost it.

Even (Vexen): Hmm, she could be a good subject for my experiments.

NO! *tazers Even*

Badhraa--I was hoping for some mysteries. And it's okay if you don't review every, single, chapter.


	16. Old Enemies?

_A friend in need is a friend indeed._

_-Scots Proverb_

It turned out that Leon, Yuffie, Cid, Merlin, and the Gullwings had all been an absolute NO! on letting the former apprentices of Ansem the Wise join the Restoration Committee, but Aerith had been her usual self, and let them help. Something about "Second Chances."

As Even--formerly Vexen--worked on the computer, Sora heard Xion whisper to Riku, "It stinks in here."

"No kidding, I'm about five seconds from running out of here," Sora said, butting into their conversation.

"It's not actual smell," Riku explained. "It's a dark scent, everybody's is different."

Sora shrugged, not quite getting it, and went back to looking over the former apprentices. He could figure out which one each was, but mostly from their demeanor, not their appearances.

There was Braig, of course, who was relaxed against a wall, shooting a target. He didn't have Xigbar's eye patch, instead, he was blind in one eye. His facial structure was different, and he didn't seem as old as Xigbar. His clothes were dark blue and violet.

Dilan, formerly Xaldin, didn't have the hairstyle or sideburns his nobody had sported proudly. Instead, it was shorter, and extremely messy. He still had the same look in his face, sure of himself. His shirt was white, his pants light grey.

Next was Even, who looked far different from Vexen. His hair dark brown, and he didn't seem nearly as crazy-scientist sort of guy as his nobody. And yet, he was still grumbling about being taken away from his experiments. He was outfitted in a lab coat, with icy blue clothes underneath.

Standing silently was Aeleus, formerly Lexaeus, who was a lot like his nobody. His hair was styled the same way, just darker brown in color. He wore a brown muscle shirt, and black pants.

The one who looked most like their nobody was Ienzo, definitely. There were no visible differences in the two besides clothes, and Ienzo even wore all black.

"Forget it, I can't take this any more," Xion said, and pulled a can of soda out of her pocket. She shook it up hard behind her back. "Braig, you want a pop?"

He reached out momentarily, then pulled his hand back. "Not a chance I'm falling for that, you pulled that trick on Xigbar too many times."

Xion, annoyed, threw the soda can behind her. By the clunk and hissing sound, it had exploded all over the floor. "One thing I don't get. Why do you keep talking in the third person?"

"What in the worlds are you talking about?"

"You talk as though Xigbar is a separate person."

Braig blinked. "He was."

"Oh geez," Xion said, slapping herself on the forehead. "You're not actually being that thick-headed, are you? That's something I'd expect from Axel, and even Ale acknowledged the fact that he had been part of the Organization."

"He was wrong," Even said from his seat at the computer. "Technically speaking, Vexen and myself are two separate entities."

"Technically my Aunt Petunia! Names and outfits don't make a person. I could say that my name is Danielle, and I could get new clothes and a different look, but I would still 'technically' be Xion, or Oni, whatever you care to say! It's my heart that makes me who I am," Xion exclaimed.

"Nobodys don't have hearts," Dilan pointed out.

"Hearts, memories, it's the same thing! All five of you, Xigbar, Xaldin, Vexen, Lexaeus, and Zexion, you're just being stubborn, and pinning the blame on somebody else," Xion accused.

"She's right, you know," Ienzo agreed. "You're forgetting about what we, yes, WE, did to Ansem the Wise and Radiant Garden. Don't blame Xehanort, either. We all had a part in it."

Braig snorted. "Fine then. If me and Xigbar are the same person, then I'm higher ranking than all of you."

"Sure," Xion said sarcastically. "When the fat lady sings. Oops, I didn't mean to bring your mother into this."

A click. Braig had a gun pointed straight at her head. "I was higher ranked than you were, certainly. You were a neophyte, number XIV. Not only was I a founding member, but I was number II."

A slight smile tugged at Xion's lips. "What did you just say?"

"I'm number II?"

Sora, Donald, and Goofy were clearly having trouble not laughing. "I'm really sorry, could you say that one more time?"

Braig rolled his eyes, having no clue how much he was destroying his reputation. "I am number II!" he said slowly. And with that, Sora, Donald, Goofy, Riku, Kairi, and Xion broke out laughing. The only one of the apprentices who got what was going on was Ienzo, who was chuckling lightly. He whispered something to the other apprentices. Braig's jaw dropped, while Dilan, Even, and Aeleus roared in laughter. It took a few minutes for the laughing to stop.

Suddenly, Ienzo shouted out, "STOP!" All eyes turned to him. His face looked almost haunted. "He's here. The Dark Depths."

"Who?" Sora asked.

"Xehanort."

---

Aeleus touched his hand to the wall, and an outline of a door shone through, and vanished to reveal a passageway. "Shortcut," he said simply. Sora and co. dashed through, the secret door closing behind them, shutting them into darkness.

Sora summoned the Kingdom Key, which gave off a faint light. Arrows pointed the way through the tunnel, eventually coming to a fork. To the right of the Castle of Radiant Garden, and to the left was the Dark Overlook. Considering the castle was nowhere near the Dark Depths, they took the left turn.

"Here it is!" Sora exclaimed, rushing to a wall with a mark like a keyhole on it. He pointed the tip of the keyblade at it, and with a click, it opened. He ran out into the open air, followed by Xion.

With a slam, the passageway closed, cutting off Sora and Xion from everybody else.

"Now Sora, I would really have expected you to have been slightly smarter than that. Rushing right into a trap, that's just shameful." A guy in dark black armor came into view. In his hand he bore a short, black keyblade.

Dilan

Xaldin's other. He doesn't have cornrows (yes, cornrows, not dreadlocks) or sideburns. He's almost exactly like his nobody in terms of behavior, except he doesn't go around kidnapping Princesses of Heart. He became apprenticed to Ansem when he created a wind-powered generator for Ansem's lab. He is twenty-two. He first showed up in _Kingdom Hearts II_, somewhat.

Even

Vexen's other. He is the most different from his nobody, but is still a mad-scientist type. Only now, he doesn't do experiments that have to do with clones. It's moreso stuff like seeing how much air you can pump into a watermelon before it explodes. It's because of this scientific curiostity that he became an apprentice of Ansem the Wise. He's twenty-three. His first appearance was _Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_ . . . one could say.

Aeleus

Yes, it's Aeleus, not Elaeus. Stupid bad translating . . . He's Lexaeus's other, and as such is big, strong, and speaks very few words. He became apprenticed to Ansem the Wise after he created a pair of gloves that could not, under any circumstances, burn. Also, Ansem's only apprentices so far, Ienzo and Even, couldn't lift the big heavy boxes. But like all of the apprentices, he is very intelligent. He is twenty-two. He first appeared in _Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_, some might say.

Ienzo

Zexion's other. He looks and acts nearly identical to his nobody. He is not emo. He is a schemer. There's a difference, apparently. He is good with research, and has read many of the books in the library of the Castle of Radiant Garden. He can find just about any fact you might need, from the lifespan of a goldfish to the amount of energy released by a nuclear bomb. He is nineteen, the youngest of the late Ansem's apprentices, but is just barely surpassed in his knowledge by Xehanort, if that. He first appeared in _Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories_, sort of.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Dang, those journal entries took forever! All of the apprentices--heck, all of the Organization except Xemnas--have the same voices as their nobodys. Roxas and Namine are just special to have different voices. What can I say, I'm too lazy to figure them out.

Basically, the apprentices are provided with a place to stay--an apartment for each of them--and food--peanut butter sandwiches every lunch, ugh--in exchange for taking care of any heartless and doing some of the things that the rest of the Restoration Committee minus Cid were too young to know even existed in the old Radiant Garden. And both groups, the apprentices and the Restoration Committee, stay clear out of each other's way.

Before I forget, I should say this now. On Wednesday, I'm going to be going on a trip to Washington D.C. with my entire eighth grade class. Yay, it's all I've been looking forward to this entire school year! But, I'm leavin early Wednesday morning (stupid 8 hour bus ride), and I'm not going to be back until somewhere around 10 at night on Friday. So no updates those three days, but there will be one tomorrow, Monday, and possibly Tuesday if I'm not too busy packing and whatnot. So, yeah, sorry about that. But I'm not going to do something like leave a cliffhanger, I'll only ever do it if I know that I can update the next day. Maybe. I dunno. Whatever.


	17. Deep Memories

_Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose._

_--The Wonder Years_

"What are you doing here, Xehanort?!" Sora shouted out.

A deep laugh came from him. "Testing you. There's a few parts to this test. You failed the first part. But there's still another part to it." He thrust his left hand out. Sora dodged the dark Firaga easily. Which promptly gave Xion a hit straight to the chest, sending her sliding across the ground, and over the side of the cliff. Sora could see her hands, holding onto the ridge.

"Pick and choose, Sora," he said. He began running towards the Great Maw, leaving Sora with the choice to chase him, or help Xion.

Xion's hands were slipping. "Not again. Please, oh, please, not again," she said in barely more than a whisper(1). One of her hands came off, making it even harder to hold on. Xion bit her lip, and her other hand came off.

And another hand reached over the edge and grabbed hers. Sora pulled with all of his strength. With one final grunt, the both of them came tumbling to the ground.

"Bravo, Sora. A plus!" said the armored figure. "You did so well, you deserve a prize for your hard work!" He slipped away into a Corridor of Darkness. Sora immediately ran after him.

---

The portal had led him to the mansion in Twilight Town. Xehanort stood in front of the gate, his helmet still hiding his face. "Does this place not seem familiar, Sora?"

"Sure," Sora responded, "but that's because of Roxas, right?"

"Do you remember anything about Roxas? Or perhaps, do you remember what caused you to first fall asleep?"

"Of course I--" But Sora did not remember. No matter how he tried remember--and he had tried to remember many times--he could not find the memory.

"I thought not. Every person has memories of some type, with very few exceptions. There are the natural memories of the heart, and then, there are the deeper memories, which lie within the darkness, in the other side of the heart. I can help you find those memories, Sora."

"And I have to kill one of my friends in exchange, right?" Sora guessed.

"You really believe that? All I need you to do is touch this one small crystal I am in possession of," he said, and pulled a dark violet crystal from his pocket. Sora could feel the magic coming from it, and knew that he spoke the truth.

Sora reached out slowly, almost hypnotized. His hand drew closer and closer, until he was mere inches away from it. He took a deep breath, and his fingertips brushed the crystal. A cold pain struck him, feeling as though his heart was being tugged from him. His mind became numb. For a moment, he could see through the dark mask and see the triumphant look on the face of Xehanort.

Everything went black.

---

People around him were talking.

"What happened to him?" asked a soft voice, definitely Kairi.

"I'm not sure, exactly. He jumped into the portal after Xehanort, and a few minutes later, they both reappeared, Xehanort dragging him unconscious. He dropped Sora onto the ground, and left without saying anything," said another girl's voice. Xion.

Next was Riku. "Wait, I think he's waking up."

Sora opened his eyes slowly, finding that he was in Merlin's house. A horrible headache racked his brain, making him feel like a hammer was continually beating his skull.

He looked and saw everybody standing around. He took a deep breath, glad that he was finally awake.

"Well, he's awake," Even said. "If you don't mind, I'll be going now." He didn't even get two inches away before Xion grabbed the sleeve of his coat.

"If you think you're going off to work on an experiment, you've got another thing coming," Xion said.

"It's not that, it's something else, you see--"

"Save it, I don't need excuses."

Their argument wasn't helping Sora's headache at all. "Will the two of you stop that already! Nobody needs to hear you fight!" he snapped.

Everybody was creeped out by this. Sora never acted like this. But somebody else they knew did.

"Roxas?" Xion said cautiously.

"Not again! It's Sora!" he said, still obviously ticked off. "Ugh, this headache stinks. It's just as bad as that one time when Saix hit me over the head with his claymore." About two seconds later, he realized what he said. "Okay, this might sound weird, but I think that I remember my time as a nobody. As, Roxas."

Riku's eyes widened. "You're joking, right?" Sora shook his head. Riku laughed nervously. "Yeah, since you remember, sorry about anything I did to you, Roxas, whatever way you want to put it."

"`Kay," Sora said. A curious look crossed his face, and he jumped up from his seat. He took a step towards Xion, then whacked her on top of her head.

"I think I deserved that," she said dizzily.

"Yes, you did," Sora responded.

Kairi put a hand on his shoulder. "Sora, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Kairi." He smiled widely.

---

Back on the gummi ship, Xion flipped the sword Merlin had given her around in her hand. It was a light rapier that felt extremely uncomfortable in her grip. Rapiers were meant for stabs, and Xion had gotten used to a fighting style with mostly slices, with one or two stabs in between.

"Great," she said to herself, "I feel like I finally have Sora's trust, what with him saving me, and then I let him get all messed up in the head." She sheathed the rapier and went back to her doodle.

Sora looked at it over her shoulder. He cocked his head to the side. "What the heck is that thing?"

"Um." Xion looked embarrassed. "A Saix-Puppy."

"Excuse me?"

"A Saix-Puppy." It made no more sense the second time she said it. "Crazy, no? He went crazy in the full moon, like a werewolf, and it went downhill from there."

"Yeah, I remember. He went crazy like that when I fought him. Yikes."

Xion slipped the drawing back into her pocket. "Sora, are you sure you're okay? Like, gaining your memories didn't mess with your head or anything?"

He took a deep breath. "I honestly don't know. What I knew, and what I now remember are different. I don't know what to think right now. I think I'll be fine."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) She fell off the skyscraper while she was putting up the tag, and then lost her heart, remember? Now, she's not exactly a fan of heights.

Um, right. So, Sora's gotten over his dislike of Xion, Sora has both Roxas's memories and his memories of Castle Oblivion, and as such, whacked Xion on top of the head for attacking him (Roxas) just before she was killed by Axel. Okayz, now, I would like to introduce you to my counterpart, Preppy Phoenix (I really am insane.)

Preppy Phoenix: Oh, like, hi, everybody. I'm like, I dunno, supposed to say somethin' right now. Line?

The Librarian: You idiot! Now I have to show up to help you, when I'm not going to appear until somewhere around chapter 50! Ugh, I'll take care of it. *clears his throat* The one known as Phoenix of the Darkness, while not requiring them, would enjoy a review of her work here and there. She shall continue to post this story, but her author's notes will become progressively more insane. Yes, that's impossible. Also, she could very well stop writing the work at all, and I would remain merely a figure of her imagination.

*stare* Dude, all you had to say was "reviews are appreciated!* Ugh, I hate that this guy is gonna be one of the more important minor characters. But I need him! I need him in my story! Cause he's gonna help with stuff. And he throws daggers very accurately! That's always awesome! Ooookay, I'm gonna spoil something if I keep on talking. Hasta la Bye-Bye!


	18. Twilight

_"It's twilight, it's the safest time of day for us. The easiest time. But also the saddest, in a way ... the end of another day, the return of the night. Darkness is so predictable, don't you think? I like the night. Without the dark, we'd never see the stars." _

_--Edward Culle__n_, Twilight

"Oh, great," Terra said. "Do we have to visit this place?"

"Are you scared?" Aqua teased.

Terra rolled his eyes. "No, it's that I've been here before, and the master of the castle isn't exactly welcoming to strangers."

Too late. The door to Beast's Castle shut. Perhaps it wasn't Beast's Castle, but rather the Prince's Castle.

A voice boomed out. "Who goes there?" A man of approximately twenty-four years stood at the other end of the entrance hall. He walked down to the trio. "Well?"

Seeing as how Terra and Ven seemed to have lost their voices, Aqua spoke up. "I'm Aqua, and these are my friends, Terra and Ven. We are searching for somebody, and thought we might search for him here. But I understand if we are not welcome."

The prince grunted something. "You're not from this world. You a friend of Sora's?"

Aqua had no clue who this "Sora" kid was, but went along with it. "Yeah."

"Fine then. Who're you looking for?"

"He wears black armor that hides his face, and carries a short, black sword, looks a bit like a key," Terra said.

"Haven't seen him, but you can look around a bit." The prince left the three of them to explore the castle.

"I'll take the West Wing, Aqua, you take the dungeon and undercroft, Ven, check the courtyard and bridge," Terra said, taking charge instantly.

"That might have to wait a second. Look!" Aqua exclaimed, and pointed at a group of Unbirths coming into the castle. In three flashes of light, their keyblades appeared. At the sight of the keyblades, the Unbirths ran off in separate directions. A few went towards the West Wing, while the others went through a door, which likely led to the courtyard.

Ven started running for the door. "You two go, I've got these guys!" He pushed it open and entered the courtyard. With a SLAM, the door shut, and locked itself. The Unbirths, just a few skimmers, were weaklings, and Ven could have destroyed them in less than three seconds.

The Unbirths vanished, and out of a Corridor of Darkness came a person he knew well, unfortunately.

"Ugh, I hate Radiant Garden. Too bright," said the apprentice. He looked up at Ven. "Well, I must say, that was quite dim of you, waltzing straight out here by yourself."

"Dear sir," Ven said in a stupid British accent, "I must say, you sound quite dim yourself, with how you choose to speak." He snorted. "Dude, you are sixteen. Don't talk that that."

"SHUT UP!" The apprentice summoned his keyblade and stabbed at Ven, who was already out of the way. While his helmet was normally useful, as it prevented magic from getting at his face, right now the tinted lens was blinding him. He tore it off, and tossed it to the side. His hair was silver, cut fairly short. His eyes were brown. (1)

"Been a long time since I've seen that face," Ven said quietly, keeping his guard up.

"And it'll be the last face you see ever!" Dark magic gathered on the tip of his keyblade. Before Ven could react, it shot toward him, homing and striking him in the chest.

He gasped, but more from the pure force of the hit, rather than the darkness. The apprentice appeared to be in shock. When he had hit Terra with that, who was even stronger than Ven, it had been enough to send him to the ground, unconscious.

"Must be a bit of darkness in your heart, protecting you," the apprentice figured. "But let's see how you react to light!" He drew on the small flame of light left in his heart. Barely anything, but enough for this. "Holy!"

Light shot through Ven. The spell would have been enough to destroy a behemoth, easily, but it affected him no more than the previous dark spell.

"How," the apprentice said, "are you able to resist both light and darkness?!"

"Because, I'm a middle of the road freak of nature. Didn't your master ever tell you? Or did he leave that little tidbit out?"

The apprentice shook his head, utterly bewildered. He grabbed his helmet, and turned, but stopped for a moment. "Before I go, you might want to know something."

"What could you tell me that I don't already know?"

He smirked. "The four of us aren't the only ones with keyblades in the universe. Not counting that boat-boy king, of course." He left at that.

"Whatever you say." Ven grabbed his keyblade, and cast cure on himself. Behind him, the door to the courtyard crashed open. His friends came in, and saw Ven barely standing, all of his weight supported on his keyblade.

Aqua came up to him. "What happened? The door locked, and then we heard you talking to somebody. Was it . . ."

He nodded. "Yeah, it was him. Hit me with a dark blast, then light. He didn't know that I can stay safe from both, relatively."

"Well," Terra said, "bet you never thought you'd be glad for that whole Twilight alignment thing, did you?"

"Never have been, never will be."

"Ven," Aqua said, "it probably saved your life."

He dismissed his keyblade, and stood up straight. "I'll never be glad for it, anyways. I'll never be able to choose light or darkness, I'll always be stuck in the middle. Besides, what he did just now, was nothing. Just a few spells. If it were true light, or true darkness, then I'd be hurt more than either of you. I can still lose my heart, fade away into dark, or light.

"Worst of all, nobody will ever understand. I'll always be alone, stuck right in the middle of two warring forces. The middle road, forever." He swallowed. "Sorry. I forgot, there's one other thing he told me."

"Yeah?"

"He said, that we weren't the only ones with keyblades left in the universe. Then again, he might have found somebody on his side, working for him. Forget it, better not think about it."

Skimmer

The lowest of the low unbirths, to the point where they cannot even carry the insignia. They are pretty fast, but nothing compared to some of the others, and are half the size of a shadow heartless. They most often appear in large groups, which are promptly destroyed by a thunder spell. They tend to be quite stupid.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Is it just me, or does this guy look familiar?

Excuse me for the quote from Twilight, I'm a big fan of the series and I thought that the quote fit well. If you don't get the whole twilight alignment deal, then don't worry, I don't really get it either. Kidding, basically, while Ven fights with the light, his heart remains inbetween light and darkness, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Aqua's heart is aligned to darkness, and Terra's heart is aligned to light. It basically makes you stronger against the alignment that your heart has. In terms of the game, Aqua wouldn't be affected by the darkness of a dark firaga, only the force of it slamming into her. All of the main trio is light-aligned, as well as Donald and Goofy. Xion and King Mickey are both aligned to darkness. Mickey's alignment is what allows him to wield the keyblade from the Realm of Darkness, the Inverse Kingdom Key. And if you read all the way to this point, congratulations!


	19. The Memory Shard

"So what now? We know he's not here anymore," Aqua said. "I mean, usually in any world where we ran into Master Xehanort or his apprentice, we ended up facing off against some monster Unbirth. So there should be something here."

Ven appeared to be counting off on his fingers. "3, 2, 1, action!" At that moment, somebody cried out from the ballroom. Terra and Aqua looked at him in amazement. He shrugged. "What can I say? I have a gift."

As the trio dashed into the ballroom, they summoned their keyblades. Terra went over all he knew about Unbirths in his head, Ven thought about the best evasion techniques for a team battle like this, and Aqua began to ready her spells, so they could be used at a moment's notice.

"It's empty!" Ven shouted out, the echo bouncing around. "We've been duped!"

"Don't be so sure, Ventus," said a voice from the top of the balcony that surrounded the room. And from that balcony came an unbirth about five times Terra's height. It resembled a gargoyle of sorts, wings included.

As he went into a fighting position, Terra noticed, in the corner of his eye, somebody vanishing into a Corridor of Darkness. He didn't have the time to think about this, for the Unbirth had just leapt into the air, using its wings to good effect. Every once in a while, it would swoop down, and they would have to spend that time it was low dodging the attack. The only one of them who could hit it was Aqua, who was running out of magic fast.

"That's it, you asked for it," she said, pulling out the summon charm Bernard had given her shortly before leaving the North Pole. She held it up in the air. "Bernard!"

The next moment, something big and brown came barreling through the air. It hit Terra under the chin, sending him to the ground. A reindeer stood in front of Aqua, awaiting orders. She pulled a small note out of the harness. "Sorry about this, sometimes I'm too busy, so Chad comes instead. Have fun, and don't let him eat too much sugar," she read.

Aqua shrugged. "Okay Chad, let's go!" she said, climbing up onto him. She waved to Ven. "C'mon, he can carry Santa, he can carry both of us. I think." Ven jumped onto Chad behind Aqua. With a snap of the reins, Chad took off wildly, and his passengers had to hold on for dear life to avoid getting tossed off.

Meanwhile, Terra shook himself out of his daze. At that moment, he could have kicked himself. He tossed his keyblade high into the air, which bent onto itself, molding and twisting into a new form. When it stopped, it resembled a hover bike. He jumped onto the key-bike, and went into the air alongside Aqua and Ven.

"Where'd that come from?" Aqua asked, having never seen him transform his keyblade before.

"Picked it somewhere along the way," Terra responded. "Only I have to just bash things with it, cause there's no weapons."

Terra, with the higher amount of control, swerved overtop of the gargoyle, and started hitting its head. On the bottom side, Aqua and Ven used their keyblades to good effect, scraping them along the stomach.

The gargoyle roared, and bursts of magic started spraying all around it. A particularly strong one hit Chad, and the jolt made Aqua and Ven have to drop their keyblades to hold on.

And of course, at that moment that they dropped their weapons, the summon ended. Chad vanished, leaving Aqua and Ven hanging in midair for a moment.

"YAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!" The two of them dropped like rocks, and were closing into the ground. They were about five yards away when Terra swerved underneath, and both of his friends landed on the key-bike.

Terra and Ven glared at Aqua. "Well, excuse me! Usually summons last ten minutes or so, but that one only lasted two."

The gargoyle swerved around, and grabbed a young woman from the balcony. "Help! Please!" Belle called out.

"Perfect. We have to destroy the unbirth without hurting Belle," Terra said.

"How do you know her name?" Ven inquired.

He hesitated. "I ran into her last time I was here."

"That was eleven years ago," Aqua pointed out. "I doubt that she's exactly the same as then."

"I can just tell, okay!" he snapped. "Let's just try and figure this out. Aqua, can you cast a spell to get rid of it while I fly underneath and try to grab Belle when she falls?"

Aqua sighed. "Terra, I can do just about anything, but if I want to destroy that thing in one shot without hurting Belle, I would need about an hour's time, and a mass of energy that could power Radiant Garden for a few months. In other words, it's not gonna happen."

Before they could figure out what to do, somebody burst into the ballroom via the back door. Terra got down to the prince, who was snarling like a beast. Aqua and Ven jumped off the key-bike as Terra said, "Need a lift?"

The prince jumped on, and Terra stepped on the gas (not that it was powered by gas, it was powered by magic that was gathered from the surroundings, but that doesn't matter, he just put on speed) going by Belle. The prince took his sword from his belt and slashed at the unbirth's legs, causing it to release Belle, who was caught by the prince.

Meanwhile, on the ground, Aqua was readying a spell with Ven's help. When Terra, the prince, and Belle were a safe distance away, Aqua drew on Ven's magic, and shouted out, "Firagun!"

A blaze of fire engulfed the gargoyle. It screeched as the life force drained from it. The body crashed to the floor, and the energy was drained from it by the flames. The body slowly faded away, leaving nothing. No, not nothing. There was still a small glow sitting where it had landed.

Aqua crumpled to the floor, her energy drained by the spell. Terra's keyblade reformed. Ven walked slowly toward the light. He reached out a hand to it.

And the moment he touched it, a horrible, burning pain ripped through him. Light surrounded him, blinding him.

Suddenly, the pain stopped. He opened his eyes, to find he was on a stained glass platform of some kind. A picture of Belle was on it. Standing across from him was the form of a beautiful woman. An enchantress. She smiled at him. "Thank you. That boy captured my spirit, and sealed it into this creature, an unbirth, I believe."

"I didn't do anything. It was all my friends," Ven said.

The enchantress shook her head. "You helped them in that fight, among others. Ventus, you are a great warrior. And now I wish to give you two things. One is an object of sorts, which you will find useful in your journey. And the other is an answer. Ask me any question, and I will do my best to answer it."

Any question at all, he could ask. Maybe she would know whether he could ever change the alignment of his heart. Then again, maybe not, and he would have wasted the question. Best to go with a more useful answer. "What can you tell me about the Heartstone?"

She sighed. "Interesting that you would ask me about that. But I promised you that I would answer your question, and I will not got back on a promise.

"The Heartstone is an object of amazing magical power, which even I do not know of. It was shattered into four shards over seven hundred years ago, by Master Shari. He gave each piece to somebody who he felt could be trusted with its power. Each shard represented one of the four main parts to the heart. Life, where the soul is kept, memory, emotion, and the other side. I cannot tell you of the other three, but I do know one the powers of the memory shard. Under certain circumstances, the memory shard allows you to dive into the chains of memories, and speak to past masters of the keyblade. Not keyblade masters, but the wielders of the keyblade from the realm of light, and darkness."

Ven nodded. "Thank you. I hope you don't mind my asking, but how do you know about the memory shard so much, but not the other shards?"

She smiled. "Because I am in possession of this shard." She held out a hand, and light gathered in it. It turned into a bright blue gem. "Take it. I cannot use it, and I trust that you will not use it for the wrong reasons, or allow it to fall into the wrong hands." She pressed it into his hand, and sighed. She placed her left index finger on his forehead. "Now awaken, Ventus, with new knowledge."

---

He opened his eyes slowly. Aqua was leaning over him, and a relieved smile came over her face when she saw him waking up. Ven took a look around, to find that he was back in the gummi ship. Terra sat nearby.

"How many times have I told you, never reach into mystical pillars of light!"

"Never. But that's not important right now," Ven said. He launched into the story of what the enchantress had said to him, finishing with taking out the piece of the Heartstone.

With his permission, Aqua took the memory shard from Ven's hand. She looked over it carefully. "Well, one down, three to go," she said, handing it back to him. "If you don't mind, I going to go take a nap. Unless you have a death wish, don't wake me up.

Gargoyle

An extremely large unbirth, five times as tall as Terra. It uses its claws and bursts of magic to fight, and will almost never descend to the ground, lest it be destroyed. However, it doesn't have any of the kind of thick skin that the ironhides have, and thus is vulnerable to all sorts of attacks. There was only ever one like this, and it was destroyed by a firagun from Aqua. To get an idea of what firagun looks like, its the burst of fire that Axel killed Vexen with in Kingdom Hearts Re: CoM.

Chad

A slightly hyper-active reindeer. He's very young, and isn't that good at flying yet. He has about two minutes of flight time, but _plenty _of crash time. To keep steady, he has to use up a lot of magic, so the summon doesn't last very long. He first flew--and crash--in _The Santa Clause 2_.

The Enchantress

A woman with great magical powers. Eleven years ago, she came to the Castle of Prince Adam, in the guise of an old woman, asking for shelter from a storm. Prince Adam refused, calling her an old hag. She then revealed her true form, and turned Adam into a beast, to reflect his cold heart, along with turning all of the servants into household objects. She gave him a rose, and said that if he did not learn to love and be loved in return before the last petal fell, then he would be trapped in the beastly form forever. It was not until recently that Beast fell in love with Belle, and soon after the defeat of Xaldin, Beast was returned to the form of Prince Adam. The Enchantress continued to roam her world, until confronted by the Apprentice. He ordered her to hand over the Memory Shard, and when she refused, he sealed her into the Gargoyle. She then gave Ven the Memory Shard upon being freed. She cast her spell in _Beauty and the Beast_.

The Memory Shard

One of four shards of the Heartstone. Its abilities lie in the memory section of the heart. It is not to be confused with the Other Side of the Heart, wherein lies the deepest memories of our hearts. One of the many powers of the Memory Shard, the only power known as of yet, is to allow one to look through the Chains of Memories and speak with past keyblade masters of the keyblades of light and darkness, the Kingdom Key and Inverse Kingdom Key respectively. It was entrusted by Master Shari to the Enchantress, who then gave it to Ven in gratitude for him and his friends freeing her.

* * *

**Author's Note**

So, the journal entries are not limited to characters, they will also describe key items such as shards of the Heartstone, each of which will have its own part to play in the story. In fact, one shard has already done part of its job thus far, the other part(s) not until way, way, way, WAY! later. Yeah . . .

That was Chad's _Test Flight_. That was awesome.

And two more things. Tomorrow, I'm leaving for Washington D.C.! Yay! And I have to wake up at 4:30 in the morning! Boo! So I'm not going to be posting any chapters until Saturday, if I remember and my parents don't try dragging me around everywhere. Ugh. Right. So, if anybody is actually READING THIS then there are going to be no chapters tomorrow, Thursday, or Friday. And for the second thing, this chapter marks the beginning of a new age. Yes, the age of the chapter that is at least 2,000 words long. Next chapter, not so much, but after that, much longer chapters.

P.S. I know, lotsa stuff. But the next chapter, a certain girl's going to be appearing. Below are two clues to this character's identity.

1. She's a Final Fantasy Character

2. She's not from the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII.

If anybody cares to guess, I was thinking of doing something where I would take all guesses in the next, oh, three days that are correct, put the usernames in a hat, and the winner gets to suggest a summon, of a Disney Character, Final Fantasy Character, or an OC of theirs.

The Apprentice: You do realize that this is one very underhanded way of getting more reviews, right?

*laughs nervously* W-w-why would you say that? Hehehe, I mean, why would I possibly do that? C'mon, I'm not that, that, uhh. *hits a red button, and an escape pod pops up* I REGRET NOTHING! *hops into escape pod and vanishes*


	20. Angel Wing

"Ah, Wonderland. How much do I hate thee, let me count the ways," Riku said. Xion walked by his side, laughing at his comment. This comment had been provoked by a nut falling off of a tree, hitting him on the head. The nut had been approximately a foot in diameter.

"Have you been here before?"

"Yeah, Maleficent made kidnap the remaining Princesses of Heart for her, Alice and Jasmine. You would not believe how hard it is to force a doorknob open, sneak past about fifty card soldiers and a queen, then go the other way with a girl in tow, without being spotted," Riku said. For some reason, despite the fact that he could never talk about this kind of stuff with Sora or Kairi, it came easily with Xion.

"Oh yeah?" she responded. "Well, have you ever had to get through a castle filled to the brim with heartless, in under twenty minutes?"

"As a matter of fact, yes, the castle of Hollow Bastion."

"Without, alerting three members of Organization XIII to your presence? Those members being Xigbar, Xaldin, and Saix?"

"No, I have not. Did you actually do that?"

"Yep! And with ten minutes to spare!" Xion spun around and stabbed a heartless through the center with her rapier. With her left hand, she let off a Firaga spell, destroying three more. "That makes it twenty-nine to thirty-six, I believe."

"Don't forget about the heartless Sora's probably gotten rid of by now," Riku reminded her. He then threw his keyblade into the air, destroying two air soldiers, and caught it when it came back down. At that moment, ten large bodies appeared, surrounding Riku and Xion. They went back-to-back, ready to take the heartless out.

Before they could do anything at all, Sora came into the Lotus Forest with Kairi, Donald, and Goofy, spotted the heartless, and dashed at them, destroying them all. He smirked. "I believe that puts me at three hundred and seventy-four. I win," he said, way out of character for him. Then again, he'd been doing lots of stuff like that in the three days it had taken for them to reach Wonderland from Radiant Garden. Most of them having to do with trying to beat Riku in everything. Then again, it might have just been him remembering that Riku beat Roxas, so now he wanted to even the score. Except now, he was bragging whenever he managed to win.

"Well, if it isn't the master of the keyblade again." Sora groaned. The Cheshire Cat stood up on two legs. "Might you be looking for darkness again?"

"Shut up. I know, strange how it is when you turn on a light, a shadow is made. Now go away!"

"But what is left when you take that darkness away? Nothing! Nothing at all!" The cat's body faded, the smile remaining for a moment longer.

Back in the Bizarre Room, Sora jumped back onto the table, and walked over to the potions. "Okay, heartless, wherever you are, come on out so I can beat you."

No sooner had he said this than the table and chair sank into the floor, the wood in the fireplace flared up, and like before, a Trick-Master heartless appeared. It immediately lit its sticks aflame in the fire. Sora expected this fight to be exactly like the other fights with it. He couldn't have been more wrong.

"YAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!" Sora yelled out as he tried to put himself out. Donald finally took pity on him, and blasted him with a blizzard spell. "What happened to this guy? He was a weakling last time."

Kairi side-stepped away from a fireball. "I don't know, but we're going to have to get rid of those sticks of his if we're going to beat him!" Sora nodded. She was right, but how could they do it? Unless . . .

He took a deep breath, remembering something from back in Castle Oblivion. At that moment, Trick-Master crossed his sticks in an "X." Sora dashed toward it, jumped into the air, swirled his keyblade around, and slashed upward. A bright flash of light streaked behind it. The Zantetsuken destroyed the sticks, leaving the heartless defenseless. On the other hand, Xion had just been stabbing the heartless from behind, and Sora's attack chopped it in two.

Xion was left staring at a piece of metal about the length of her forearm. She tossed it away, and started shooting chunks of ice at Trick-Master. Without any kind of defense or offense, the heartless was no more difficult to fight than a soldier. The only advantage it had was its height, and magic took care of that.

The heartless vanished, and a heart floated into the air and vanished. Sora narrowed his eyes. A thought occurred to him involuntarily. "Twilight Town. There's somebody in Twilight Town that we have to help."

"You certainly waste no time," Xion said. "Five seconds after beating the giant heartless, you say that we need to go out somewhere else to help somebody we don't even know."

---

Air rushed past. Her shoes pounded against the floor of the underground passage. She spun around, running backwards, and shot her Blaster Edge at the nobodys. It sliced through a few dragoons, and swirled back to her. Rinoa ran as fast as she could, firing off magic spells when she got the chance.

Suddenly, from further up in the tunnel, an amazing blast of fire came by her, and destroyed another three nobodys. A boy with extremely spiky hair ran past Rinoa, and destroyed four enemies every time he swung his sword.

Sora went straight into the rush of the fight, easily vanquishing the nobodys. He dismissed his keyblade, and looked at the girl who the nobodys had been chasing. "Wait a second, Rinoa, right?"

She nodded. "How did you know my name?"

"Ever meet a ninja called Yuffie? She told me a bit about Radiant Garden before the heartless went rampant. I'm Sora," he said.

"So you're from another world!" Rinoa realized. She held up one finger, in her own gesture for a request. "Any chance I could catch a lift back to Radiant Garden with you? There's somebody waiting for me. His name's Squall Leonhart."

---

"If it isn't Miss Rinoa Heartilly!" Cid said through his toothpick. "Aren't you a sight for sore eyes!"

Leon hadn't said a word. Sora didn't think that it was so strange for him to not talk much, but this was different. He was surprised beyond words. "Rinoa," he breathed.

"I haven't seen you in so long, Squall," she said, taking his hand. Leon smiled, surprising Sora.

Being the keyblade master is hard, Sora thought, but it's moments like this, people reuniting with each other, that makes it all okay.

"Yeah, yeah, it's beautiful," Cid interrupted. He turned to Sora and his friends. "Three different things for ya. First, Merlin wants to tell Sora somethin' up in the castle's library. Then King Mickey's in town." Her started to go back to the computer, when Sora reminded him that there were three things. "Oh, right. Xion, you ever go by the name Oni?"

She swallowed. "I did. Once. Why?"

"Some boys lookin' around for a girl named Oni, black hair, blue eyes. Up in the marketplace. Had some pretty weird names too," Cid said. "Oro and Jessie, I think."

Xion's eyes widened, and a smile spread across her face. "I have an idea, you guys. Sora, Riku, Kairi, see what Merlin wants. Donald, Goofy, try to find the King. Meanwhile, I'll go and see Oro and Jessie."

Sora shrugged. "I'm good with that." When nobody disagreed, Xion let out a whoop of joy, and dashed from Merlin's house, sounding like she was sugar-high.

A lift that had recently been constructed in the Bailey took Sora, Riku, and Kairi over wreckages and towards the Castle of Radiant Garden. "You know, there's one thing I'm kind of curious about," Riku said. "Merlin sees the future, right?"

"Not exactly. I think he gets feelings of some kind of what's going to happen, so he prepares accordingly," Sora explained.

"Whatever. He knew that we were coming, despite the fact that we were just here. So why didn't he just 'prepare accordingly' and make sure that he was back at his house by the time we had shown up?"

Rinoa Heartilly

A native of Radiant Garden, and a friend--or possibly a bit more--of Leon's. She was also a friend of Yuffie and Aerith. When Radiant Garden was attacked by the heartless, she managed to get away with them on Cid's Gummi Ship. A few years later, unfortunately, Rinoa vanished from Traverse Town. There was no sign of how she had vanished, but part of the fountain where the keyhole was later to be found was frozen over from magic, and an eleven year-old Yuffie swore that she spotted some guys in white jumpsuits near the hotel. Nobody believed her. After all, according to her report, they twisted around like they had no bones in their bodies. Rinoa eventually got away somehow, and ended up in Twilight Town. She is an accomplished sorceress, and can go into a super-form of sorts, where white wings grow from her back and her spell-casting increases. She first appeared in _Final Fantasy VIII_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

And I am back from D.C.! Two things I gotta say today, one is more important than the other. First of all, the winner of the guessing contest--and the only person to GUESS--was Badhraa. Yes, it was Rinoa. So I just need a character that you'd like as a summon, and it will appear later. Like, much later. Yeah . . .

Second, I'd like to introduce you to my sister, DarkGuitarGoddess! She doesn't have an account on fanfiction yet, but that's going to be her username in some form or another.

Goddess: Hi, everybody! Wassup! Congrats to Badhraa! Um, what am I supposed to say now?

Sephiroth: I have an idea. Say, 'ah'.

Goddess: Okay, Sephy, ah, AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!

For those of you that don't get what just happened, Sephiroth made her fall off a cliff with a meteor. *looks over edge of cliff* That's gonna hurt when she lands. You're really evil, you know that, Sephy?

Sephiroth: I'll take that as a compliment. Reviews are appreciated.

Badhraa--Yeah, you won, thanks for guessing. And while Chad appeared then, that doesn't mean that Bernard won't appear as the summon was originally intended to do. I just haven't written that bit yet. But it will happen, I promise that.


	21. Clash of the Trios

"Hey Merlin! Where are you?!" Aqua called out. The magician said that they might be able to find information on the Heartstone in the library of The Castle of Radiant Garden, and had even taken them through a shortcut. However, he had vanished mysteriously upon reaching the library with the trio.

Ven pulled a book off the shelf at random. "Advanced Psychology for Morons," he read. "What kind of moron would study advanced psychology?"

"Not a clue," Terra agreed. Suddenly, he reeled back, as though slapped. He inhaled deeply. "No way," he whispered. He summoned his keyblade, with a good reason. Had he not, the Way to Dawn keyblade may have decapitated him.

Riku had nothing but anger in his eyes. "You, you're--" He was interrupted by a kick to the chest, sending him falling back into a bookshelf. Sora and Kairi jumped away from the falling shelf, and Sora noticed the shape of Terra's keyblade.

"The Lingering Sentiment," he whispered, remembering the being that had attacked him in the portal near the Cornerstone of Light. In one fluid movement, he summoned his keyblade and dove at Terra. Out of nowhere, another keyblade blocked his strike. Sora looked up into the face of his attacker, to find himself looking at a guy who was identical to Roxas.

Ven released his hold on Sora's blade. He held his keyblade in his left hand, with a reverse grip. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that," he said, and the both of them dashed through the library and out the door in their own duel, as did Terra and Riku, who crashed out the window, such was the ferocity of their fight.

Meanwhile, Aqua came down the stairs having heard the commotion. She ducked just in time to avoid getting blasted by an orb of light. Kairi's Oathkeeper was at the ready. Aqua shook her head. "You're going to regret that, princess." She meant the princess remark as an insult to how Kairi fought, but Kairi didn't know that.

She knows, Kairi thought, she knows I'm a Princess of Heart. Kairi charged forward, and clashed against Aqua's own keyblade. Light burst up around them, carrying them to another part of Radiant Garden.

Merlin came out from his hiding spot behind the stairs. He adjusted his glasses. "Oh dear, perhaps I should have just told them, instead of letting them find out for themselves."

---

Terra's nameless keyblade and Way to Dawn came together with a crash like thunder. Both of them pushed their hardest, neither one giving an inch. Seeing an opportunity, Riku stopped pushing entirely, and let himself fall to the ground. Terra lost his balance, allowing Riku to fire off a dark aura. Terra barely jumped out of the way.

Metal clashed again, as Terra diverted Riku's stab. Neither one of them had gotten a hit in, but they were both starting to breath heavy. Not that either warrior was about to give up after less than five minutes of sparring.

"Come on, name buddy!" one of the Gullwing spectators, Rikku, called out. "Beat that guy's butt!"

Riku gritted his teeth. He wondered for a moment why the Gullwings weren't helping him, if they wanted him to beat this guy so badly.

Terra charged at Riku again, and the latter held onto the bar behind him. When Terra came near enough, Riku kicked his legs out, scoring the first hit and sending Terra the other way in one move. He pulled a potion from his pocket, guzzled it down, and threw the bottle behind him. Hopefully nobody would come to the postern with bare feet.

Terra took a deep breath. Gold light gathered around him, strengthening him. He stood up and grabbed his keyblade. Faster than Riku could see, Terra dashed at him and sliced. The force of the strike sent Riku flying twenty feet.

"How'd that guy get so fast?" Riku asked nobody in particular. There was one way he could keep up with Terra, a method that he wasn't exactly eager to use. "I can't believe I'm going to do this." Xehanort's Heartless may have been gone from his heart, thanks to the power of Kingdom Hearts, but he could still use the powers of darkness.

Riku held his keyblade with both hands, and pointed it at the ground. Darkness came over him. What remained of the Soul Eater drew on the darkness. His clothes changed to looked much like the apprentice's armor. Dark Form.

The warriors went at it again, stronger than before, with Terra using Focus Mode, and Riku using Dark Form. Neither of them saw anything that happened around them. Not the avalanche they caused. Not Ven and Sora dashing by. Not even the explosion Aqua and Kairi caused over in the Great Maw. Just their fight, and nothing else.

---

Sora had to hand it to Ven, he was fast! They were closing in on the Dark Depths, and he was gasping for breath already. Meanwhile, Ven was running backwards, occasionally sending a thundaga spell at the keyblade master.

"What's wrong? Can't keep up with the best?" Ven taunted. "C'mon, you want me, you gotta work for it!"

"That tears it!" Sora exclaimed, and drew on his drive energy. His clothes turned bright yellow, and the Ultima Weapon appeared in his left hand. The effect on him was instantaneous. Sora kicked up dust as he sped up. He caught up with Ven, and brought his right-hand keyblade into Ven's side. The Roxas look-alike fell into the ground of the Dark Depths, face-first.

"Okay, that hurt." He grabbed his keyblade off the ground and jumped up. Sora's Ultima Weapon came at him, straight for his head. Ven side-stepped and sliced at his opponent's feet. His eyes widened. "Hey, where'd he go?" Sora appeared to have vanished.

Somebody tapped him from behind. Ven fell to the ground, and Sora smirked. "Nice try, but--AGGGHHHH!!!" He flew into the air from the force of Ven's punch.

"Little bit of a lesson there. Never, start bragging unless you're sure that your opponent is restrained or almost unconscious."

Sora dove at Ven, who instantly started running again. Following close behind was Sora, again. In the Great Maw was Kairi and Aqua, who were duking it out with everything they had.

And everything they had, included amazing blasts of magic. Sora and Ven watched them fill their palm with magic, and charge at each other. An amazing pillar of energy erupted into the air. For all the speed they had already had so far, nothing compared to the two of them, running away from the two angry girls.

---

The light dropped off Kairi and Aqua into the Great Maw. Kairi went straight into magic spells of all kinds. Aqua dodged each and every one, with an amazing show of acrobatics. She landed flat on her feet.

In a flash of light, Aqua's keyblade appeared. She gripped it with both hands, spun around, and threw it like a boomerang at Kairi. The Princess of Heart ducked, and the keyblade stuck into the side of the valley. "Nice try."

Aqua held up a finger. She reached her hand out, appeared to grip something, and pulled backwards. Something whizzed through the air, and the hilt of Aqua's keyblade hit the back of Kairi's head. She smiled stupidly. "Pretty birdies." She shook herself out of her daze. Kairi attacked Aqua, but didn't go for a body hit. Instead, she thrusted downwards, sending Aqua's keyblade to the ground, where it vanished in a flash of light. The next moment, a blast of magic sent Kairi's blade flying away, where it vanished like Aqua's.

Aqua instantly went into a fighting position more suited for hand-to-hand combat. Sparks of magic danced over her hands. Kairi wasn't able to summon her keyblade back to her, as she was busy dodging Aqua's blows. Every once in a while, she was able to retaliate with a punch or kick. Whenever a hit landed, sparks of magic flew out. They were so busy with their fight, they didn't even notice as Ven and Sora came through in a fight of their own.

But enough was enough. Aqua's palms filled with magic, as did Kairi's. With a ferocious battle cry, they ran at each other. The magic erupted into an explosion of epic proportions. Both of them stood in the middle, neither one in the least affected by the explosion. Finally, the pressure became too much. A blast sent both girls flying through the air.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I had that entire scene in my head from when I first started writing this fic. I love it, because it is one of the greatest definitions of awesomness on this planet. Really, Terra, Ven, and Aqua vs. Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Tell me one thing that is more cool. Plus, it's my best fight scene that I've written thus far. I think so, at least. Yeah, I love this scene, a lot. But I do not love being sick, which is why I'm putting this chapter up at quarter till one eastern standard time. If either of my parents were home with me, then I wouldn't be putting this up right now, but I'm old enough that I can stay home by myself while I'm sick. w00t!!!

Badhraa--You got it! I already have it worked out in my head how your summon will work.


	22. Explanations, sorta, kinda, not really

Ven and Sora finally stopped in front of Merlin's house, keyblades at the ready. Terra and Riku had reverted back to normal, and took places by their friends. Last was Aqua and Kairi, Aqua stopping herself with a well-timed Reflega, and Kairi softening the landing with an Aeroga.

The two trios stood there, watching for the slightest movement. Suddenly, a blur came from the top of the stone wall. Sora, Riku, and Kairi were left untouched, but Terra was sent head over heels, Ven crashed into the wall behind him, and Aqua went sprawling to the ground. All three of their keyblades flew through the air before vanishing in three flashes of light.

King Mickey had his keyblade out, and looked more mad than Sora had ever seen him before. He looked to Sora and his friends. "Are the three of you alright?"

Sora looked at Riku and Kairi. Riku looked tired, and Kairi's hair was a little singed, but nothing too bad. "Yeah, we're fine. But who are you guys?" he said, directing his question at the three keyblade wielders that had attacked them.

The King turned to the other trio. He slapped his forehead. "What, could possibly possess the three of you to attack them?!"

The girl was first to respond. "Hey, they went at us first! Silver over there attacked Terra first. Then Ven prevented Spike over there from skewering Terra. Then Miss Princess attacked me for no reason at all!"

"Did she just call me Silver?"

"My hair is awesome!"

"How do you know that I'm a Princess of Heart?"

The girl's head snapped up. "You're a Princess of Heart? Seriously? I just called you that because of how you fought."

"Enough!" The King exclaimed. "What I want to know, is why you kept on fighting even when you saw that they had keyblades?"

The Roxas look-alike snorted. "Yes, because there's no precedent at all saying that people with keyblades can be evil. Oh, wait!"

"I wouldn't be so easy to start fighting anybody you see." The man in the black armor Sora had seen in his last visit to Radiant Garden stepped from a Corridor of Darkness. "Believe me, they are not your enemy in this battle." He then turned to Aqua. "In fact, Aqua, I would think that Terra would be even more of an enemy right now."

"What are talking about?"

He was silent for a moment, then laughed. "Really Terra, I cannot believe you wouldn't tell them. Whatever. I'll let you figure it out for himself." He left them, leaving only his puzzling words.

Ven sighed. "Okay then. I've had my share of confusing words and whatnot for today, so let's get out here. See ya Mickey!"

The King responded with a stare. Terra looked at him, then at Sora, then back at the King. Something clunked into place in all three of their heads.

"No way!" Terra exclaimed.

"You cannot be serious, Mickey," Aqua said.

"You can't make us do that!" Ven argued.

"As a matter of fact, I can," the King said. "Unfortunately for the three of you, it's King Mickey now. That means that I have authority over you. If need be, I can order the three of you to go with them."

Sora interrupted. "That's not necessary. They don't have to come if they don't want to."

"Please trust me, Sora," the King said. A silent understanding passed between them.

Terra sighed, beaten. He looked at Ven, who said nothing, and Aqua, who just shrugged. "Fine then." He smirked. "It would be our honor to serve your majesty," he said with an extremely fake French accent, while doffing an imaginary hat.

He went up to Sora. "Name's Terra."

Aqua jumped up on Terra's shoulders. "Aqua."

Ven leapt on top of Aqua's shoulders. "And I'm Ven."

Terra's knees buckled. "Not again," he grunted. And for the second time in a week, the three of them fell to the ground.

Sora stifled laughter. "I'm Sora, and these are my friends, Riku and Kairi. There's actually another friend of ours, I don't know where she went--"

He was rudely interrupted by somebody yelling, "BOMBS AWAY!!!" A miniature explosion followed, and an overpowering smell of rotten eggs filled the air.

"Jessie, how many times do I have to tell you, stop tossing those stupid stink bombs everywhere you go! Remember what happened that one time at the football game?"

"Ah, my greatest creation. El Stinko!"

Xion rounded the corner with two boys. One was obviously strong, with slightly spiky blond hair with red tips. The other didn't look so strong, with bright green hair.

"Bananas," said the boy with green hair, who was probably Oro.

"What he said," Xion agreed.

Jessie snorted. "I happen to remember the two of you laughing your heads off. At least until the cheerleaders chased us from the stadium."

It was then that Xion noticed the people she hadn't met before. "Uh, did I miss something? Cause I'm getting that weird feeling that I missed something big. Oh, wait, did that stink bomb land over here?"

"Yeah, it did. But that's not the big thing you missed," Sora corrected. "It would take forever to explain, but this is Terra, Ven, and Aqua. They're coming with us around the worlds."

Oro saw the color of Aqua hair. "Flipping fire."

This provoked a group, "Say what?"

Xion clapped her hand on Oro's shoulder. "Oro, here, speaks his own little language. I don't even think he knows true English. 'Flipping fire' is one of many ways for him to say 'awesome.'"

"Flipping fire?" said a bored-sounding voice. "Is Ale in town?"

Sora bit his lip. "Ienzo, right?"

"Thanks for remembering. Anyways, we saw the explosion, and figured you were back in Radiant Garden. How long were you gone, five days? Whatever. We figured out that one file, something was holding back some of the information. Even couldn't figure it out, but this kid showed up and was able to get it."

---

Sitting at the computer was a 14 year old boy. Sora wouldn't have thought anything of it, except that this kid looked like he was trying to look like somebody twice his age. His hair was slicked back, and he wore a suit.

"I must say, this computer is fairly good. Of course, nothing compared to those at Fowl Manor," he said.

"Excuse me?" came the voice of Tron. "At least I don't have a funny accent."

Sora laughed at the sight of the kid jumping at the sound of Tron's voice. "A bit of advice. Never insult a computer that can insult you back," Sora said.

The boy turned to him. "You must be that key-kid, Sora. I am Artemis Fowl."

"Isn't Artemis a girl's name?" Ven asked. "That really weird."

Artemis rolled his eyes. "I would like to advise you not to try any insults. Butler may have something to say to that."

Ven snorted. "Butler? What sort of name is that?" He turned around and ran into something very solid. "Hey, was this wall here a second ago?" The enormous man stared down at Ven. "You must be Butler," he said nervously. Butler cracked his knuckles, and Ven shrank away.

While making sure to stay far away from Butler and his huge hands, Ven spoke to Kairi. "Hey, I was wondering. Do you have any sisters?" Kairi's mouth dropped open, and she slapped him across the face. "Not like that! I mean seriously, do you have any siblings?"

"No, I'm an only child."

Ven's expression grew thoughtful. "Then do you have any long-lost fraternal twin sisters that you know nothing about?" Kairi blinked.

"Ven," Xion said, "I have heard many very random things in my life, most of them coming from Oro, and that may not be number one, but it's definitely up in the top ten."

"Listen to me. Imagine Xion with slightly longer, red hair, parted to the opposite side. She looks almost identical to Kairi as it is!" Ven argued.

Nobody said anything. Terra, who had been standing in the back, came up behind Ven and placed his hands over his ears. "What are you doing?" Ven asked.

Terra responded with, "Trying to keep your brain from leaking out through your ears."

"If you are done," Artemis said, drawing the attention to himself. "This information could be quite important." He hit a key, and an emblem came up on the screen. Sora recognized it from the creature that had attacked them in Space Paranoids. "This is a symbol of some sort, which identifies a creature which goes by the name of an 'Unbirth.' These unbirths are extremely powerful."

"Created from the spirits of those who have fallen in battle," Aqua said.

"Intelligent to the point of capability of speech," Ven added.

"A sense of logic. In other words, you trick it once, don't expect that to work again," Terra stated.

"Can only be controlled by two select people in the universe," Aqua finished. "A few years back, Xehanort created an army of unbirths by going to worlds where they were on the verge of war, and pushed them in the direction of violence. Crazy old man."

"Wait, Xehanort wasn't an old man," Sora said, "he was--and is--only sixteen."

"He's been dead for a few years," Terra said. "Although, there might just be two different Xehanorts. There's that Xehanort, the sixteen year-old who almost destroyed the universe, and then there's Master Xehanort, the something-year-old who almost destroyed the universe. We don't know exactly how old he was, just that he was old."

Ven cut in. "Yeah, he was the kind of guy that you don't want to ask his age, and I've got the scars to prove it."

Jessie

One of Xion's best friends in the universe. He is very strong, as exemplified when he fights one-handed with a two-handed sword. He's spent a while searching for Xion, excuse me, "Oni" with Oro, but exactly how long is unknown. Jessie is an avid maker of stinkbombs. Like his friends, he is an outcast at Aurora City High School, and spends his days making life miserable for the popular kids.

Oro

Likely one of the most odd people around, and one of Xion's best friends. He has eagle-eyes, and uses a bow that transforms into two short swords in battle. He's been looking for Xion for some time now. Oro is random. There's nothing better that describes him. Like his friends, he is an outcast at Aurora City High School, and uses his free time to develop new pranks to play on the jocks, cheerleaders, etc.

Artemis Fowl

The current youngest member of the Fowls, a family that dealt in crime for decades, if not centuries. When his father apparently died in the _Fowl Star_, Artemis spent the next few years sending search expeditions to Russia, in an attempt to find his father. This led to Artemis kidnapping the LEPrecon elf, Holly Short. Recently, however, Artemis has straightened out, and is using his large I.Q. to help the fairy folk when danger threatens both the underground and the human world. His I.Q. has not been measured, but he has beaten the world champion in chess, published many medical articles (under false names), and saved the human and fairy worlds at least four times thus far. He came to Radiant Garden with his bodyguard Butler to help out the Restoration Committee. What? You didn't know he knew about other worlds? Silly! He captured Captain Holly Short in _Artemis Fowl_.

Butler

The bodyguard of Artemis Fowl. As far as we know, only three people know his first name, but all call him Butler. He knows approximately seventy-four ways of killing a man with his bare hands, and that's just with his hands. He has, on occasion, been mistaken for a tree or a wall. His best friend is his Sig Sauer. Despite the fact that he is Artemis's bodyguard, he treats Artemis like a son. He is the only human, nay, the only being ever, to have faced off with a troll bare-handed, and come out alive. He first appeared in _Artemis Fowl_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yes, I put a couple of non-Disney character into a Kingdom Hearts fanfiction. Sue me. There will, however, only be one none-Disney world, only because that single world has a bit of character development for Sora in it, which I really feel like I have to do. I guess I don't have to, but I want to. No more words from me.

Next time in Light in the Darkness: The Broken Paths. Xion gets tested, and the apprentice gets a surprise.

Badhraa--Thanks so much! I haven't done much with fight scenes, but I'm glad that I did it well.


	23. Broken Paths

The Kingdom Key appeared in a flash of light. Sora scanned over the unbirths that had appeared. To his surprise, one of them, a wulf, spoke in a hissing voice. "Surrender, or we shall be forced to kill you and your friends."

"How's this for an answer?" Sora said, and hit the wulf with a blast of fire. He flew at the unbirths, destroying them with ease. From nowhere a positively enormous enemy flew into the air and almost landed on top of him. The Leo resembled a saber-toothed tiger, including the teeth. It scraped at the ground, and dashed at Sora. Despite its huge size, it was ridiculously fast, as were all of the unbirths.

Sora jumped away, and immediately started to draw on his drive energy. "Let's see how they like Final Form," he said under his breath. At that moment, Kairi bumped into him. She vanished in a flash of light, and Sora didn't go into Final Form. He instinctively knew that it was called Light Form. He looked down at his clothes, and groaned. Not at the Kingdom Hearts insignia on the sides of his pants, but the color.

Pink. Bright, pink.

Hey, what just happened? And what's so wrong with pink? Kairi said, only Sora hearing her. Apparently, if he was close to somebody when he drove, he could go into a different form than normal.

"It's a drive form. And pink's fine, I just don't like wearing it myself," Sora said quietly. It didn't matter, he could just think whatever he wanted her to hear, and she would hear it. That little feature made for some extremely embarrassing moments when he went into a form with Donald or Goofy. Thankfully, he had soon figured out how to drive on his own, it just took more out of him.

In a flash of light, Kairi's Oathkeeper appeared in Sora's left hand. He went back into the fight, his magic highly increased. It was like Master Form, but more focused on magic than power, and he also found that he could send out orbs of light from the Oathkeeper. Sora quickly cut through the unbirths, until finally all that remained was the Leo.

"May as well try out that new spell," Sora said to himself. He drew on his magic, Kairi supplying him with some of her own. "Firagun!" Flames exploded from the Leo, destroying it. Sora instantly felt the effects of his spell on himself. His energy was completely drained.

The drive ended, and Sora went back to normal as Kairi reappeared. Sora fell to the ground, barely holding on to consciousness.

"Curaga!" Aqua called out as she rushed over. The spell managed to wash away the pain from his muscles. "Stupid! You're lucky that Kairi was helping you with that Firagun, or that spell could have killed you. All I'm saying, is be careful if you use a -gun spell. They're powerful, but dangerous. We don't need the keybearer dying on us."

---

Xion was absolutely amazed. Both Oro and Jessie knew how to fight well, Oro with a bow-dual sword combo, Jessie with a two-handed sword he wielded with one hand. It looked as though the many hours at the downtown arcade paid off, because every once in a while, Xion saw one of them use a move taken straight from Dragon Blaze.

"Jessie! Give me a boost!" Her friend held out a hand, and he boosted her up in the air. Xion summoned up a mental image of a raging thunderstorm, releasing her magic at the same time. "Thundaga!" A maelstrom erupted onto the unbirths, eliminating them.

Then, to her surprise, a knight unbirth grabbed both Oro and Jessie, and teleported away.

"Magnificent friends there, Xion. Simply, amazing." Xion spun around, to see the apprentice. "I have a test for you in mind, involving them."

"What's the deal with you and tests? Did you just have one of those teachers who pulled a pop quiz whenever you weren't prepared?"

He ignored her comment, and snapped his fingers. Two more unbirths appeared. One was the knight who had taken Oro and Jessie, and it still held onto them. The other was a wulf, which had its jaws poised over Riku's neck, ready to bite his throat out.

"All that you have do is tell me who you want freed, and I swear on the River Styx that I will have them released. Who will it be, your best friends, or your boyfriend?"

As he said this, Oro spoke to Jessie. "Que habla?"

"What?" Riku asked, not having picked up on Oro's language yet.

"What are you supposed to say in a situation like this?" Jessie translated. "Beats me."

Careful not to move too much, for fear of losing his head, Riku said, "Xion will be able to think of something. I think. I hope on all that is good in the universe that she can think of something that'll save all three of our butts."

Meanwhile, Xion's brain was working like sixty. She cared about all of them equally, and she couldn't choose. The only way out was if she cheated the test, and tried to get rid of the unbirths. She ditched that plan immediately, as they were far too fast for her. As she thought, she didn't notice the sparks of light gathering in her right palm.

However, Oro did notice it. "Oni, flip off the sparkles!"

"Stop the magic?" Xion said to herself, not bothering to correct Oro about her name. She looked at her palm, her eyes widening. A power of some sort was growing fast in her heart. Not magic, exactly. Something even more powerful. Xion looked up at the apprentice. A smile spread across her face. "I choose, all three of them." Before he could react, she kicked him in the shin, and allowed that magic she had felt to grow entirely in her heart.

In a bright flash of light, a keyblade appeared in her hand. The shaft and handle was made up of two intertwining bands, one black, the other crimson red, the color of blood. A bat's wing was at the end for the teeth. The keychain was some sort of black star. The shape reminded Xion of something, but she couldn't quite place it. The name Broken Paths flickered through her mind.

While the apprentice nursed his sore shin, Xion spun around and threw her keyblade like a boomerang. It sliced through the wulf that had Riku, and came back to her. She cut the blade through the air, and a crescent of shimmering magic shot at the knight, decapitating it.

The apprentice was in disbelief. "A . . . keyblade? But how? It's not possible!" He stepped back, and vanished from Radiant Garden through a Corridor of Darkness.

Xion examined her keyblade with great interest. "Not exactly what I was expecting to happen, but I'll take it." It vanished in a flash of light.

"Queet giant key," Oro complimented.

Riku looked to Xion for a translation. "Awesome keyblade. Giant key speaks for itself, but queet is a sort of multi-use word, means things like 'awesome', 'cool', or 'sweet'."

"So what was that boyfriend thing he talked about?" Jessie asked, a smirk spreading across his face. Xion's face turned bright red, while Riku suddenly became very interested in the sole of his shoe.

Light Form

A unique drive form Sora does with Kairi. His magic is enhanced, as well as the usual bit of a second keyblade, the Oathkeeper. He can use light magic while in this form. His clothes turn pink, and the Kingdom Hearts insignia appears on the sides of his pants. This form represents the bright light that comes from Kairi's heart, and how much bright it becomes when she is with Sora.

Broken Paths

The keyblade weilded by Xion. That is, "Oni." Xion, the nobody, weilded the Kingdom Key. Because this author is lazy, read the chapter for the description of it. Not shown until later, it allows her control of the darkness, to the point that Riku has, as well as opening Corridors of Darkness.

* * *

**Author's Note**

It's so cute and fluffy! _. . . how bright it becomes when she is with Sora_. This is the part where you go awwwww

*crowd awwwws*

Gracias. Yes, Xion has a keyblade. I can't say much about it. Yeah . . .

I forgot to say last time, I mostly based Jessie's fighting style off of how Ike fights in Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and I based Oro's bow-short sword combo off of Pit's weapon in the same game, down to the arrows. However, the appearances are nothing alike, and Oro fights differently than Pit does, not so much a lightweight as a midweight, if you understand what I mean. On the other hand, if you've never played SSBB, then I am sorry, and I pity you, you poor, depraved child.

*a scream is heard from high up, and DarkGuitarGoddess lands with a thud*

Goddess: What'd I miss?

GrayDove008 -- Thanks so much! I appreciate every review I get! If you don't mind a correction, that fact has not been confirmed in-game as of yet. However, you'll find out next chapter that I am indeed a supporter of that theory. The next chapter should be up tomorrow.


	24. Terra's Secrets

Pages of the book rustled every time she touched it. While one might have thought that Aqua was reading some old book filled to the brim with amazing magical secrets, it was the exact opposite. It was actually a romance novel Aerith--for some strange reason--lent to her. At that moment, she was thankful for it, because it helped her ignore the loud knocking on the door to her room in the gummi ship.

"Aqua, please, let me in," Terra pleaded from behind the locked door.

"Are you planning on letting me know what he was talking about?"

"I can't tell you."

She slammed her book shut, and tossed it behind the bed, where it would gather dust for a very long time. "Terra, if you think you've done something bad that I won't forgive you for, then look at Xion and her friends. She told them that she lost her heart, and basically became a bad guy. They didn't care a bit! Whatever it is, you can tell me!"

Terra sighed. "I can't really explain it. At least, not very well with words."

"What--" A thought occurred to her. She jumped off the bed, and unlocked the door. "You actually trust me enough to let me do it?" He nodded. Aqua sighed. "If you trust me that much, the least I could do is, well, do it. Sit down on the edge of the bed, and relax."

He did so, and Aqua pulled up a chair in front of him, and sat down. She took both of his hands in hers, allowing herself to sink into the flow of magic. The sixth sense of her mind opened up, and she reached out to Terra's heart. Memories presented themselves to her touch, but one in particular called out to her, one of the ones Terra wanted her to see. She reached out to it, and she saw the memory in her mind's eye . . .

---

Pain. Absolute pain. He fell through the darkness, while memories were swiped away from him, one at a time. It wasn't long--or perhaps it was hours of falling through darkness, he couldn't tell--before all of his memories were gone.

A bolt of thunder woke him from his painful sleep. Rain poured down on his face, soaking his now-silver hair. The cold chilled him to the bones. Suddenly, the thought of sleep wasn't so painful. He was already half-dead, may as well go all the way.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over him. A man holding an umbrella leaned down to him. "What are you doing out here, in this kind of weather?" he asked.

"I . . . I can't remember. I can't remember anything."

The man murmured something incomprehensible. "Come with me, then. There's a place nearby you can warm up in. Do you know your name, or have you forgotten it?"

He was ready to say that he didn't remember, when suddenly, a name presented itself to him. "I am . . . Xehanort." The man, Ansem the Wise, helped him up, and took Xehanort to his lab nearby, where he had recently begun work on research of the heart . . .

---

The memory ended at that point, having shown all that was important. It was quickly replaced with another one, where instead of seeing it in her mind, Aqua felt like more of an observer to the events as they happened . . .

---

Xehanort stood in the lab, going over the data one final time. Ansem the Wise was asleep, and the other apprentices were on their way. They were far too slow.

Darkness tore at Xehanort. It killed Aqua to watch it happen, but couldn't do anything, as it was only a memory of what had once happened. Suddenly, everything changed. What had once been Terra was no longer in Radiant Garden. Only the heartless, that which had been Master Xehanort's apprentice, remained.

A man with silver hair and yellow eyes stood in front of a skyscraper, within a dark city. Thoughts ran through his head, different from what he knew before. He remembered, and didn't like his memories.

Something touched his mind. Somehow, he knew that the other apprentices had lost their hearts, and their nobodys were soon to appear. He snapped his fingers, and iridescent letters appeared in front of him. T-E-R-R-A. He shook his head. No. Not yet. The letters vanished, and were replaced with others. A-N-S-E-M. They rearranged themselves, and an X appeared at the front. He nodded approvingly. A new name, for his new existence, or rather, non-existence. When he left, six letters remained hanging in the air. X-E-M-N-A-S. Xemnas . . .

---

She was again withdrawn from the memory. Aqua thought that to be it, but was mistaken as another memory drew her in . . .

---

A man in a black cloak stood in the middle of a desert. Remnants of a battle fought not long ago lingered. Pillars of earth, brought into the air by magic. The cloaked man, Xemnas was his name, walked briskly, with a purpose in mind. Soon, somebody came into view. A young woman, who may have been sleeping. Bits and pieces of armor still remained, but most had been torn away to show the clothes she wore underneath. Her hair was bright blue. In her right hand, she loosely held a sword that resembled a key.

Hanging overhead was a heart-shaped moon, the source of all of this in one way or another. Xemnas held his hand in the air, and dark magic shot away from it, enveloping Kingdom Hearts. The moon was instantly transported to the World That Never Was.

When the last of the light faded away, Xemnas turned his attention to the young woman. By just looking at her, he could tell that her heart was broken to pieces, from the shock of seeing her friend vanish from her. Weeks of lingering in the light of Kingdom Hearts had protected her, and Xemnas knew that until she awakened, she would not need sustenance, nor would she age.

He cradled her in his arms, careful not to hurt her. Both of them went through a Corridor of Darkness, reappearing in Hollow Bastion. The lab had been left open, as there was no threat of anybody finding it at the moment.

The Room of Sleep was an ingenious idea. If one's heart was affected in some way negatively, the Room of Sleep would prevent any further effect, the name coming from the fact that one needed to be asleep for it to work. Xemnas placed his once-was friend down carefully, setting down her keyblade next to her. He was at the door before he turned around. He said only one thing, but it would effect his actions for the next several years. "I doubt that you can hear me, but I'll say it anyways. I will not stop, until I find a way to restore your heart, Aqua." He left the room, and locked it. He left the lab, the small part of the apprentice of Master Xehanort's apprentice mind within him taking its place once again . . .

---

In the present, Aqua opened her eyes. She didn't let go of Terra's hands, despite the things she knew Xemnas had done.

Terra opened his own eyes. The expression on his fact was that of shame. "So now you know. I can't possibly apologize for what I did, it was so horrible."

Her face was a blank, her mind going over all she had learned. Some might say that Terra couldn't possibly be trusted. Most would say that, actually. "Terra." He looked up. "My mind, right now, is telling me to run my keyblade through your heart, eliminating the threat. That or get as far away as possible from you." His head sank. "But that's a whisper. My heart is screaming to me right now. It's telling me that what you did, you did mostly of your own actions. But the darkness was also pushing at you, changing what you thought. And no matter what, in some way or another, you had another, better purpose in mind, even if it was small. So . . . I forgive you."

"Thanks. I'm not sure I deserve forgiveness, but thanks," Terra said, his voice filled with relief. "Are you going to tell the others about this?"

"Not if you don't want me to."

"Actually, I wouldn't mind at all. Just wait ten minutes before you do it. I want to be behind a locked door, reinforced with duct tape, before Sora finds out. I don't know about you, but he seems a little bit," Terra trailed off, trying to find the right word for it. "Nutty."

* * *

**Author's Note**

No, not nutty, Terra, just a little mentally unstable, and that's only for the moment, and will be remedied soon.

Now, for explaining. First off, early on in Terra, Ven, and Aqua's journey, Terra fought the apprentice, and nearly killed him. The apprentice escaped, Master Xehanort healed him, but in the process, the apprentice's soul was bound to Xehanort's, thus wiping out his identity and putting him entirely under Xehanort's control. Fast-forward to the final battle, Terra used the power of darkness to destroy Xehanort, and the apprentice's body and soul were destroyed as well, but his heart survived. His heart then latched onto the closest one, namely, Terra's. The shock of it cause Terra to fall into darkness, lose his memories, his hair turned silver, eyes turned brown, and he showed up in Radiant Garden remembering only the name Xehanort.

Again, fast-forward. Xehanort--the young one--loses his heart. The apprentice's heart become Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, and Terra's body and soul become Xemnas. Because of a bit of the apprentice's mind in Terra, his thoughts are slowly warped, but it doesn't really start happening until after he restores Aqua's heart, minus memories, and places her in Aurora City, where she's facing a few months of hell. Meanwhile, Xemnas becomes more and more messed up by the day, to the point of talking to empty armor, leading up to the sick bastard you see in Kingdom Hearts II. You know the deal, Xemnas defeated, apprentice and Terra restored to how they both were, yadda yadda.

And that, is what happened to Terra. Yikes. Hasta la bye-bye!

Graydove008 -- Thank you so much, you're so kind. But really, don't go off thinking that you're bad at writing. Really, I don't think that any author is entirely satisfied with their own work. Keep working at writing, and I'm sure that you'll get better.


	25. Broken Memory

Smooth strokes of the pencil went across the page. Bright blue, radiant red, alluring yellow, all came together to create her drawing. Kairi watched it go on, like a movie slowly unfolding. "Perfect," she said when she finished. The perfect sunset in the background, with herself, Riku, and Sora in the foreground, sitting around, talking and watching the sun dip below the horizon.

"That's amazing, Kairi," Sora said. "I didn't know you could draw so well."

"I guess I really don't like drawing for everybody to see. I have some other ones, that are much better. Then sometimes, I'll get addicted to something, a theme of some sort." She flipped through the pictures in her sketchbook. "At one point during the year that you and Riku were gone, I started drawing buildings a lot. Castles, skyscrapers, more castles." One of the castles looked a bit like Castle Oblivion to Sora. "Then just recently, I've started making these mirror-image drawings." She showed a drawing to him, showing a mirror cracked down the middle. One half of the face in it was Kairi's, the other half Naminé. She started to go back to an empty page, when Sora stopped her.

"What's that one?"

A heart was in the middle of the page, surrounded by darkness. But it looked almost as though the light of the heart was beating back the darkness. In the middle of the heart, the two of them were back-to-back, both of them appearing to be sleeping. If one looked close enough, they would see the words, "Our light will find us through the dark," hidden in the black.

Sora sighed. "Kairi, I haven't been completely honest with you," he admitted. "I'm not alright. I can feel darkness pressing at my heart. But when I'm around you, it goes away. When you're not here, it strengthens itself. And I didn't feel it before I found my memories."

Kairi didn't speak. Suddenly, something occurred to her. "Sora, you said that Naminé had the power to change people's memories, right?"

"Change, alter, rearrange, destroy, create, yeah. So?"

"Let me try something. For some reason, I think that there's a link missing in your memories, or something's been altered in your heart, allowing the darkness to enter." She took Sora's hands, and closed her eyes. She allowed magic to wash over her, enveloping her.

While her eyes didn't see it, Kairi felt her hands tracing along Sora's memories. Each one felt perfectly intact. Except for one. A flaw of some sort, within the memory. She reached toward it, and suddenly, she was enveloped by it . . .

---

The closer you are to darkness, the greater your shadow becomes, said an invisible voice. Sora looked behind him, and saw his shadow long on the ground. It rose from the ground, and Sora tried to run from Darkside. He stopped just before falling off the platform.

Instead of the keyblade appearing, like Kairi expected, a red shield appeared in the younger Sora's hands. He fought off Darkside with it, destroying it within minutes. That's where things changed. An invisible force hit Sora, and sent him flying off the platform . . .

---

"That's it," Kairi realized. She sent light magic into the memory, forcing the darkness out. The memory changed back to what it once was, the first time.

Kairi opened her eyes, and took a deep breath. "Sora, are you back to normal?"

He smiled wide. "Thank you, Kairi." He pulled her into a hug.

"Yahoo!" somebody cried out. The both of them looked around for the source of the voice. "Man, I thought that nothing could be as annoying as normal Sora, but emo Sora definitely beat it out." Sora and Kairi looked up, to see Xion hanging upside-down.

"How long have you been up there?" Kairi asked.

"Long enough. Don't worry, I won't tell anybody about your mushy-gushy moment. And just so you know, I have no clue as to how I got up here."

At that moment, Ven chose to walk in. "Am I interrupting something? Looks like it. So, anybody feel like playing charades, and getting mad at Aqua when she starts using magic to cheat?"

Sora shrugged. "Sounds like fun."

"Hey, what about me!" Xion exclaimed. "I don't know how I got up here, I don't know how to get down, and now all the blood's rushing to my head!"

"I suggest jumping towards the floor, then flipping around in midair. Works for me every time," Ven said. Eyes turned to him.

"You've ended up hanging upside-down from the ceiling?" Kairi said skeptically.

"More often than you'd think. I think it's some sort of glitch in the artificial gravity," Ven stated.

By the time Xion had gotten back on the floor, and gotten over her dizziness, the others had already given up on charades, with Oro not getting it and shouting out what he was trying to mime. Not that it mattered, since nobody understood a word he was saying. Besides, with Donald and Goofy having gone with the King(1), it wasn't very fun. Goofy attempting to act something out, and tripping over his feet, then Donald getting mad, and zapping Sora and Goofy with lightning.

Now, the guys were comparing bruises and scars from fighting(2).

Terra pulled his sleeve up a bit, to show a black-and-blue mark on his left shoulder. "Ironhide clipped me before I sliced its arms off."

"That's nothing!" Riku exclaimed. While he normally would never get involved in this kind of contest, he actually seem fairly happy with Sora back to normal. "Look at this one." He pulled up his pant leg to show a long scar along his calf. "Lexaeus," he said by way of explanation.

Ven scoffed. He pulled down the collar of his shirt to show a deep purple bruise that apparently went down his ribcage. "The Gargoyle hit me with one of those magic blasts."

"That little mark?" Sora said. "I got a worse bruise stubbing my toe on the dresser when I got up this morning. This is a scar somebody can be proud of." He tore off his vest and undershirt, inadvertently showing off the muscles he certainly did not have so prominently two years previously. He turned around, to show a long scar running down his spine.

Riku swore, Kairi gasped, and basically everybody else averted their eyes.

"Where did that come from?" Xion asked.

"Can't exactly stab yourself with a dark keyblade and expect to come out unscathed," Sora said, as he pulled his shirt back on. "It's not usually that prominent. In fact most times, it fades away almost completely."

Ven cut in. "Whatever. Aqua, show off your talents. Sing something!"

Aqua sighed. "What are you looking for? Something to fall asleep to?" Ven nodded, and murmurs of agreement went around the room. "Okay then get comfortable. Don't want to fall asleep when you're lying on hard floor, least I don't." There was a flurry of movement as everybody tried to get a comfortable seat on a couch. Aqua cleared her throat, and started to sing. Sora wouldn't ever say it out loud, for fear of getting blasted to bits by King Triton, but Aqua sang even better than Ariel.

"When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are. Anything your heart desires, will come to you." Yawns went around already. "If your heart is in your dream, no request is too extreme. When you wish upon a star, as dreamers do."

Everybody who knew the bridge sang along. "Fate is kind, she brings those who love, the sweet fulfillment of their secret longing."

As Aqua finished off with the final verse, plenty of the travelers were at the brink of sleep, others completely asleep. "Like a bolt out of the blue, fate steps in and sees you through. When you wish upon a star, your dreams, come through."

Out the window, Sora spotted a star shining brightly. "I wish, that eventually, there could be peace in the universe, and that I could go home without being dragged away by evil," he wished quietly. The next moment, Sora descended into the sweet bliss of sleep.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Right, what can I say? I felt that I really couldn't do Donald and Goofy well, and also, if you've ever heard of a game called Kingdom Hearts: Coded, you'll know what they're doing.

(2) Inspired by a scene in _Brisingr_.

Yes, Aqua is an amazing singer. She just seems like that kind of person to me. Plus there's the voice actor I've established for her, all are as follows.

Aqua: Taylor Swift

Ven: Jesse McCartney (duh)

Terra: Richard Epcar (Xehanort)

Xion: Jordan Pruitt, but with more attitude

Yuppers, that's how I've got them. I'm going to try and work on finding guys that would work for Oro and Jessie, but I'll likely forget to do it. Whatever. I've got a ton of time, since I'm on Spring Break! Yahoo! C U L8R.

Badhraa -- You can say that again.


	26. Radiator Springs

Sora played around with the universal map. So many worlds, so little time. Then there were others that he would never visit, and likely not many people would ever visit. He checked in some of the archives, and noticed a path going through space that didn't appear to go anywhere.

"That's . . . strange," he said, checking the path's history. "Used to be used plenty, but another path was set up to cut a few minutes off of travel time. Only one known world is on this pathway," he read.

An alert went off. Sora shut down the map, and saw that a few dozen heartless ships were headed right at them! "Attention everybody! Buckle up, we've got some enemy ships headed at us! We're going to need some fancy flying!" Sora flipped off the autopilot, and took the controls himself. Fighting with dual keyblades just barely beat the joy of flying the gummi ship autopilot off.

Three large missiles flew straight at the _Blazer_ ship they were in(1). Sora started up the shield, but something else came from their ship and obliterated the missiles. The keyblade master looked over to see Riku working some of the weapons. Sora smirked, knowing that while Riku couldn't steer very well, he was a genius with the lasers.

Sora went sideways, sending small blasts at the heartless ships. Each destroyed ship released gummi blocks, which were picked up by the magnet on the bottom of the ship. Suddenly, a sonic wave hit the ship. Ten huge ships surrounded them. "Too many of these things. Cid put too much stuff for comfort on this thing, not enough weapons or defensive systems." He hit the intercom button. "Hold onto your seats everybody, cause I'm gonna send a bunch of power to the engines." He re-routed the power grid, sending triple power to the engines, and the only negative effect was the lights dimming a bit.

Out of nowhere, the gummi blasted forward, away from the heartless ships, and down the path that Sora had spotted on the map earlier. The newer path really was unnecessary, as it was mere minutes before they spotted a world. "Attention passengers, we are now approaching a world that I do not know the name of. Please prepare for departure, and I hope you've had a wonderful time on Keybearer Airlines," he said over the intercom.

---

"Well, I must say, I have been to many worlds, but this by far had got to be the strangest of them all," Aqua said. "Really, this transformation is even stranger than the one for the North Pole. I mean, cars?"

It was fairly strange. Sora was a black racecar, with a gold hood, Kairi was a red XB, Riku was a slick silver Toyota, Xion was an all black convertible, Oro was a bright green taxi, enjoying every minute of it, Jessie was a bright red beat-up minivan, Terra was a brown pick-up, Ven was a police car, and Aqua was a bright blue Beetle.

They had been on the world for an hour at least already, but they had spent most of that time getting used to their new forms. As Sora was still trying to stay going straight, Xion was driving circles around him, literally. "Care for some driving lessons?"

"Just you wait, cause soon I'll be driving top speed down the highway," Sora said. "Jeez, why is the road so bumpy out here? I mean, I know this is the middle of nowhere, but c'mon, this isn't a few potholes. It feels like somebody couldn't have done worse if they'd tried."

At that moment, out of the dusty desert came a bright blue Porsche. "Hello! Are you here on Spring Break?" she asked cheerfully. "We don't get many visitors in Radiator Springs."

Terra blinked. "It's September, no, October, actually. Y'know, autumn. We're actually looking for somebody. Or something. If either one's here, it's good." He moved his front wheels up and down like he was shrugging.

"Well, maybe for the moment, you could come look at the town? Just having somebody stay in town for more than a few minutes, I think would really boost the confidence of the shopkeepers there."

"Sorry, we're a little bit--" Terra started, but was cut off by Sora.

"We'd be glad to. We can look around there," he said.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm Sally, and you can just follow me to town," she said. As the party of nine drove behind her, Terra spoke to Sora.

"We can't spend out time camping out somewhere! The apprentice could be wreaking havoc in another world, or he could get his hands on another piece of the Heartstone!"

"What if the heartless chose to show up here? Those heartless ships were there for a reason. We've barely run into any since me and my friends left Destiny Island. Now, out of nowhere, we have to try and escape from some of them. We'll stick around here for a day or two, then we can head straight to another world, which will be just as randomly picked as this one, I might add," Sora pointed out.

Terra sighed. "But we can't get involved in their issues. What about the world order?"

"No offense, but the whole concept of preserving the world order was blasted into a thousand pieces when Xehanort released the heartless into the worlds. Yeah, we can't let people move between worlds, but we can still help out with problems." Sora turned his attention to Sally. "So what's the deal with this road being such a mess?"

"You can blame that on one Lightning McQueen," she said, sounding irritated. "He's this racecar--nothing against racecars--who showed up in town, and trashed the road. Doc Hudson, the judge, sentenced him to repaving the road before he would be able to leave for some big race, the Piston Cup. Needless to say, he didn't get the road done exactly right." She brightened. "Here we are, the one and only, Radiator Springs!"

Had it not been for some of the cars going around, Sora would have sworn Radiator Springs was a ghost town like the ones in the scary stories Riku told when they were little kids.

"It's," Kairi said, unable to find a good word to describe the town. "Cute."

"It'd be even better if their were less idiots getting stuck here, and some people who actually wanted to be here got here," said an old-style car. "Which one are you?"

"Neither, really," Sora said. "We're just looking for something, and we ended up passing through here. You must be Doc Hudson. I'm Sora, and these are my friends, Riku, Kairi, Xion, Oro, Jessie, Terra, Ven, and Aqua." He gestured in some way to each of them as he said their names.

Doc Hudson grunted. "Just try not to tear up the road any more than that Lightning has already. Then again, he'll have to redo it all after his horrible job today." He sighed. "Sally, would you mind leaving us for a moment?" The Porsche drove off in the direction of what appeared to be a giant traffic cone. Hudson's expression grew stern. "I don't know what you're doing in this world. There's nothing here that could be of any danger to the rest of the universe."

Sora wasn't very surprised that Doc Hudson knew about the other worlds. He just seemed like that kind of person--so to speak. "We're not going to make a mess of things. But, why is it that this place is such a ghost town?"

"A few years back, two things took away almost all business here. There was a new highway built, completely bypassing this town for the sake of ten minutes off the trip. Then somebody created a new gummi route, preventing any off-worlders from visiting. Before that, we welcomed people with open arms. This was one of the few places that got frequent traffic from other worlds. But since the new route was made, there's nothin' left here."

This story gave Sora an idea. "How about this. We have a friend in another world who's one of the biggest gummi ship makers in the worlds. I'll tell him about Radiator Springs, and he'll put the data for this world into all future gummis he makes. For now, its too dangerous for people to safely travel between worlds, but hopefully in a few months it'll be safer. I'll do that, and you have to let us stay here for a bit. What do you say?"

Doc Hudson sighed. "Fine. You got a deal."

"HEY, YOU!" shouted what seemed to be a hillbilly tow truck. Doc Hudson quickly drove away as it came up to them. "Mah name's Mater. Like Tuh-Mater, but without the tuh!" he said, spitting the "tuh" thanks to his giant buck teeth. "You should meet my buddy, he's a racin' car too."

Mater drove off, trying to find the race car that could only be Lightning McQueen they had heard so much about. "Okay," Sora said. "That was, strange."

Sally

A blue porsche who lives in Radiator Springs. She tries to get tourists to stay in the town, but it often fails. She has a bit of a crush on the racecar, Lightning McQueen. She first appeared in _CARS_.

Lightning McQueen

A rookie racecar who got lost while he was headed to the finals of the Piston Cup in California. He thinks of Radiator Springs as "Hillbilly Hell," and that sums up his entire opinion about annything at this point that isn't the big city. He first appeared in _CARS_.

Doc Hudson

An old Hudson Hornet, the judge in the town of Radiator Springs. He wants McQueen out of the town as fast as possible. He seems to be hiding something, though. He first appeared in _CARS_.

Mater

A rusty old tow truck that is some sort of hillbilly. He isn't very bright, but he's a friend of almost everybody in the town. He is the world champion in backward driving, thanks to his rearview mirrors. He first appeared in _CARS_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) The name of the ship is a misnomer, as it is extremely slow. There's a general trend in Gummi ships. The higher the level of comfort, the slower it is, and vice-versa.

I like the movie CARS, it's so funny! I did leave some bits out from the movie, but then again, the worlds in Kingdom Hearts aren't supposed to be exactly like the movies. They didn't do a bad job of that in Kingdom Heart 1, but they failed miserably in that endeavor Kingdom Hearts 2. This world is two chapters, but leads up to a mini-plot curve. At least, that's what I call it. Like, I think of the whole story of Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden in Kingdom Hearts 2 as being a mini-plot curve. Whatever.


	27. The Piston Cup

_He did what in his cup?_

_--Mater_

Riku yawned. "Never gonna get used to this car thing," he said to himself, before driving out from the Cozy Cone Motel. To his surprise, the road going through town was paved smooth. Sora was already cruising along, riding low to the ground. "Man, that McQueen must have been working since we got back from tractor-tipping." He laughed when he remembered the boys night out of sorts they had had the previous night. Mater had his faults, but he knew a good time, for sure.

"What'cha laughing about?" Xion came up beside him, in a proximity that would have been quite awkward were they not cars. "Something to do with whatever you did with the other guys last night? Whatever, I don't care." She sighed. "I'm bored."

"What am I supposed to do about that?"

"Maybe we could go for a drive, or something," she suggested. "Or not. I don't care, personally."

"I'm more in the mood to race somebody, and Sora beat me by a mile yesterday. He might be back to his old idiot self, but he'll still do anything to even the score. Last I checked, I was winning ten to six. So yeah, how about we race to the other side of town?"

Xion responded by flying away, top speed. Riku went after her, avoiding everybody who got in his way. Their race really never had an end, the two of them continually trying to outdo the other as they raced up a path outside town.

"Tie?" Riku said when they finally got to a point where they really couldn't keep on going anymore, or fall off a cliff. Xion nodded, trying to catch her breath.

Finally, she was able to look out over the view, and let out a low whistle. "It's beautiful out here. Feels nice, getting away from it all for a bit. Forget about the light, the darkness."

"Yeah," Riku said. "For a second, you could almost think that it's just us, alone in the universe."

Xion sighed. "That actually doesn't sound too bad. Maybe, after all of this is over, we could find one of those worlds ruined by war. Live there for a bit, just try and forget about this stuff for a while," she suggested. As usual, their beautiful moment was ruined by somebody barging in. Three helicopters flew overhead, straight towards Radiator Springs. "Does this always have to happen!" she complained.

In the small town, the helicopters flew overhead, and tons of cars had arrived. Cameras flashed, trying to get a view of the lost-and-found Lightning McQueen. In less than ten minutes, the choppers, the cars, the trailer, and McQueen had all been cleared out of the town.

"What the heck just happened?" Riku said, having gone at something like record speed back down to the town.

"We got rid of a problem," Doc Hudson answered simply. "We didn't need his kind around here."

Sora was the first person to figure it out. "You called the paparazzi!"

"What if I did? What're you gonna do 'bout it? He's the one that wanted to get that Piston Cup so badly." Without another word, Doc Hudson drove off.

Sora turned to his friends and allies. "Whatever's going on, we need to get to the Piston Cup--"

"You did what in a cup?" Jessie said, appalled.

"--because there's going to be a ton of people there. More hearts for the heartless to be attracted to. Plus, once you get past the ego, Lightning's a nice guy. I'm talking way, way deep down. Like so far down, if it were water, you'd get crushed into a tin can from the pressure."

---

"And Lightning's trailing behind! Oh, it's not looking good for the rookie," the announcer said.

McQueen just didn't have the motivation to do this. He tried to get on going, but couldn't do it.

"Hey, McQueen, what do you think you're doing?"

He knew that voice. Glancing over to the side of the track, he spotted, to his great surprise, Doc Hudson, back in his racing colors, had brought along almost the entire population of Radiator Springs to the race. Sora and his friends were there as well.

"C'mon, let's git-r-done!" Mater called out to him enthusiastically. With a roar of his engine, Lightning flew off, catching up to the two other cars, the King, who was racing his last race, and Chick Hicks, who had spent all of his career in the King's shadow.

Upon entering the pits, Guido, the little Italian forklift, gave a record-braking pit stop of only four seconds to change all four tires. All but one of the members of Chick Hicks' pit team dropped their false mustaches. "Pit stop," Guido said. The head of Chick's pit team dropped his mustache.

Despite the fact that he had never seen a car race before, Sora thought that it was absolutely amazing. It took him a few minutes to realize one of their number was missing. "Hey, Terra, where's Aqua?"

Terra moved his front tires up and down like a shrug. "I think she went to try and get this one guy's autograph, Billy Ray Chevy. Some famous singer."

Back on the track, Lightning was in first, The King was in second, and Chick Hicks was in third, not happy about it at all. "I'm not gonna lose to that old man again," he said quietly. He poured on the speed, getting right next to The King. In one of the dirtiest moves, he rammed against the champion car, and sped ahead. The King flipped over multiple times, finally stopping in the grass.

McQueen saw The King there, remembering how Doc Hudson had almost been killed in his last race as the Fabulous Hudson Hornet, and forgotten by the time he had gotten out of the shop.

While Chick Hicks pulled ahead, straight to the finish line, McQueen turned around, and got behind The King. He started driving forward, pushing the older car toward the finish line slowly.

"What're you doing?" he asked hoarsely.

"You're going to finish your last race," McQueen said as he pushed.

Long story short, Chick Hicks won the Piston Cup ("He did what in a cup?" Mater said, spitting out his oil.) but was basically shunned from the racing world for his move. The King got to finish up his last race, eventually getting out of the shop, never racing again. McQueen got third place, but didn't really care about that. He had his whole life ahead of him, after all. In the meantime, he decided to go back to Radiator Springs with his friends.

At the end of the race, just before heading back home, Doc Hudson approached Sora. "Sorry about how I treated you 'n your friends. You're always welcome in Radiator Springs."

---

Sora stretched his legs. They were already on their way to another world, and everybody was glad to be back to normal. He had contacted Cid, who had promised to put Radiator Springs into the world maps.

"So yeah," Terra said to Aqua, "don't tell anybody else. I really don't feel like kicking any of their butts, and getting them mad at me even more."

"Whaddya talking about?" Sora said lazily.

Terra turned to Aqua. "I thought you told them."

Aqua turned to Ven. "I thought you told them."

Ven turned to his side, where there was nobody, then turned back to everybody staring at him. "And I forgot to tell them!"

Having already opened up a can of worms, Aqua launched into the story of their search for Master Xehanort and his apprentice, Ven falling into the Realm of Nothingness, Terra's mind fusing with the apprentice's, and her own heart shattering. "Turned out that all of Terra's memories were torn apart, and he ended up appearing in Radiant Garden, remembering only the name 'Xehanort.' After Xehanort lost his heart, the apprentice became Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, while Xemnas was actually Terra's nobody, but pushed by a small part of the apprentice's mind towards the darkness." She breathed, and continued. "After Sora and Riku destroyed him, he reappeared in Radiant Garden. After a short time, he freed Ven and both of them made my memories come back. And here we are."

Unlike what some might have expected, Sora just tilted his head back in thought. "So, let's see if I've got this right. The old guy is Master Xehanort, DiZ is Ansem the Wise, Ansem the Seeker of Darkness was actually Xehanort's Heartless, and Xehanort's Heartless is the heartless of the apprentice of Master Xehanort?" Terra nodded slowly. Sora jumped up. "Then who's Xehanort!"

"I'm Xehanort," Terra said flatly.

Sora looked at the ceiling again. "Then who am I?!"

"You're Sora," Ven said.

"What am I?"

Aqua rolled her eyes. "Do you really want an answer to that?"

"Hold on a second!" Terra exclaimed. "So nobody's going to kill me because of who I was or whatever?"

Aqua put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm just as surprised as you are, my tall and strong friend." She jumped up. "Now that that's out of the way, I got a disk of the background music for one of Billy Ray Chevy's songs, and I think it's awesome. Who wants to hear it?" Hands shot into the air. As they had the other night, everybody got into the lounge of sorts, and knocked people out of the couches to listen to her sing.

"Just as a warning, this is not a lullaby." She popped the disk into the stereo, and pressed the play button. Music started playing from the speakers. Aqua smiled. "I'm American made, Bud Light, Chevrolet, my mama taught me wrong from right! I was born in the south, sometimes I have a big mouth, when I see somethin' that I don't like!" She kept on singing the song, rockin' out to the beat. The entire time, everybody was smiling.

Unfortunately, the song ended, and while their smiles lasted until they fell asleep, they certainly did not last until the next day.

The King

The face of Dinoco Oil, and the top racecar in the world. He said that win or lose, the Piston Cup would be his last race. He was knocked off the track by Chick Hicks, similar to how Doc Hudson (as the fablous Hudson Hornet) was sent off the track at the end of his career. McQueen pushed the King over the finish line, letting the older car finish his last race. He first appeared in _CARS_.

Chick Hicks

A green racecar that has finished second to the King during every race in his career. He refused to lose to the King again, and won the Piston Cup through a disgusting move of knocking the King off the track. Chick was shunned from the racing world for his act. He first appeared in _CARS_.

Guido

A little italian forklift, who only knows two words in english, "Pit Stop." His life's dream has been to perform a pit stop on a real racecar, and his dream came true at the Piston Cup. He broke the record for a pit stop time of four seconds for four tires. He works in a tire shop in Radiator Springs with his brother, a Ferrari Fan, Luigi. He first appeared in _CARS_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Billy Ray Chevy is obviously based on Billy Ray Cyrus, who did a remix of "Real Gone," which was originally sung by Sheryl Crow at the beginning of the movie. I couldn't resist.

Tomorrow's chapter is going to be rather short, I will say. Not much else to say that I can think of.

Badhraa -- If you get the chance, you should see CARS, it's pretty funny.


	28. Arguments

A clang came from somewhere below the cockpit. The hatch opened up, and Terra climbed out, wiping the grease off his hands with a cloth. "There. The dark tracer gummi's in, and it'll make it all the easier to figure out which world we go to, and we don't waste time in a world where there aren't any heartless." The last part of his statement was directed at Sora.

"It was a random encounter of the heartless ships, then," Sora argued. "Excuse me, I'm just a fifteen year old running around the universe with a giant key! You try being a better master of the keyblade." Terra murmured something incomprehensible. "What?"

He spoke slowly. "Maybe the keyblade should have chosen me, instead of a kid with a stupid haircut and shoes the size of boats."

"Will you please stop arguing," Kairi said, exasperated.

"I'm serious," Terra said. "The keyblade really picked a dud this time."

Sora summoned said keyblade. "I wish people would STOP SAYING THAT!"

"I wish you two would stop arguing," Aqua said, flipping through a book. "It's hard enough traveling with Miss Princess and Miss Emo, I don't want to hear the two of you arguing all the time."

Kairi and Xion looked at each other, then at Aqua. "Could you shut up about the Princess comments?" Kairi said. "I'm just as good at fighting as you are!"

"What are you talking about, Miss Emo?" Xion queried.

Aqua rolled her eyes. "As if you don't know." She folded her arms, and tried to look depressed. "Oh, I was a nobody and I lost my memories of my life. Please feel pity for me." It actually wasn't a bad imitation of Xion's voice, which made the former-nobody very ticked off.

Calling Broken Paths, Xion said, "If there's anybody who's emo around here, it's your friend Terra." She lowered her voice. "I lost my best friends and I fused minds with my worst enemy. I think I'm better than all of you, and I'm always right."

Insults flew across the room, from personality to hair (the girls were the ones who mostly sent those insults flying). It may have come to actually using the keyblades they had drawn if Oro and Jessie had not stopped it.

"WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT UP BEFORE YOU KILL EACH OTHER!!!" Oro screamed at the top of his voice. Ever hear the sound of six jaws dropping? It's something to be heard.

Sora completely forgot what he was doing. "You speak English?"

"Of course I do! Geez, Xion, these guys really are idiots!" he said. Xion looked like she was trying her hardest not to burst out laughing. Oro shook his head. "Now then, it's easy to tell that some people around here are getting a bit stressed."

"Hear hear!" Riku called out.

Oro nodded in agreement. "So, here's what we'll do. From what I've heard, this gummi ship can split apart into separate gummis. So, we'll split it into three parts. Sora, Riku, and Kairi go in one, Terra, Ven, and Aqua go in the second, and Xion, Jessie, and I will go in the last one."

Murmurs of agreement went around. Aqua stood up. "I'm all for it, if I get to get away from--" she struggled to not use one of her nicknames "--that is, if I get to just be with Terra and Ven for a while, maybe just a few days. Since the gummis will be able to go much faster with a third the weight, we can meet up somewhere in, say, four days."

In less than an hour, Sora had the gummi ship ready to divide. The only ones who bothered to say goodbye were Riku and Xion, who just sort of waved to each other, lest Oro, Jessie, and Sora start teasing them about it. "Hasta la vista, everybody!" Sora called out, and hit the big red button. Barriers went up in the cockpit, splitting the three trios up. The gummi groaned, and split apart.

Had one been watching from space, they would have seen the huge gummi ship split apart, only the cockpit staying in one piece, before it too split into three pieces. The gummi blocks rearranged themselves into three ships, a Highwind Model for Sora, Riku, and Kairi, a Falcon Model for Terra, Ven, and Aqua, and an Invincible Model for Xion, Oro, and Jessie. After checking the communication system--for an emergency--the three ships sped off in separate directions.

Sora checked the instruments. "Finally, a bit of peace around here. I thought we would never get away from them." He brought up a screen, which had readings of the amount of darkness in a world. Most of them were normal, nothing special, but one in particular had readings off the chart, that Sora also knew. "Port Royal!" He entered the coordinates for the ocean-covered world, and spun around in his seat. "Just wait until you guys meet Captain Jack Sparrow, he's a real riot."

Meanwhile, Jessie flickered through the different worlds. A few of them had darkness in them, but none of them seemed very interesting. Finally, one came up with a ton of darkness. "Looks like we're heading to, Neverland!" he said, and set the coordinates.

Then, in the Falcon, which was already way far off, Terra sighed in relief. "I thought we'd never get away from those guys." He hit a few buttons, bringing up the darkness scanner. A few worlds had darkness readings that were a bit high, but nothing ridiculous. Others had higher readings, but they were way far away. Finally, there was one that had a high amount of darkness, but would only take about three hours to reach. Some world called Nextel Stadium.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yeah, a really short chapter, I know. The three trios are splitting up, for the sake of getting away for a while. First world'll be Port Royal, with Sora, Riku, and Kairi. Second world'll be Neverland, with Xion, Oro, and Jessie. The third world'll be Nextel Stadium, with Terra, Ven, and Aqua. You'll see what Disney movie Nextel Stadium is based off of when it comes.

And about Oro . . . yeah, he speaks English. It was a prank, to see if they could convince the rest of them that Oro really was that odd. Nah, he's just very, very, very random. You'll see. You'll ALL see.

Jessie: Is she going insane?

Oro: I think so, dude. I think so.


	29. Yo, Ho, a Pirate's Life For Me

A storm was attacking Port Royal. That is, the actual port, not the world itself. Sora, Riku, and Kairi fought their way through the storm, and saw a group of people gathered. If the white dress on one woman was anything to judge by, it looked it had been a wedding, but the storm had struck from nowhere. Sora's pace increased as he realized the identity of the bride. The one and only, Elizabeth Swann.

As he approached the group of people, he found that it was not the storm that had interrupted the wedding, but the arrival of Lord Cutler Beckett. "By the Order of his majesty," he read from a sheet of parchment, "I place William Turner and Elizabeth Swann under arrest."

"What gives you the right to do that?!" Sora called out, breaking the rules--again--of interfering with world affairs.

"These two freed a prisoner of the crown. And you are?"

"Name's Sora."

Lord Beckett rifled through his papers, and brought one out. "Ah, I also have an arrest warrant for a Sora, er, there appears to be a smudge on the last name. Tens, something? Ah, no matter. Arrest him," he instructed the navy men he had with him. Two of them grabbed Sora's arms. While he could have taken the two of them out easily with the keyblade, he certainly couldn't have taken down every single one here.

Kairi tried to get to Sora, to help him. "Kairi, stop. I'll be fine." He smiled. "Believe it or not, I've been in far worse situations than this."

"Friends of yours?" Beckett said, in a tone that Sora didn't like at all.

"No comment," Sora said.

Beckett's face turned to amusement. "Assistants to a crime. Arrest them!"

"NO!" Without even summoning his keyblade, Sora made a blast of ice go all around, freezing the rainwater, making it impossible for any of the navy men to get to Riku or Kairi without slipping. "Go, now!" His friends ran off as fast as they could. As shackles were attached to his wrists, Sora kept his face stone-cold, determined to be mature.

And somehow, he actually succeeded in that venture. He sat in his cell, not even trying to escape from the prison cell, despite the fact that it would be easy, with the keyblade. After barely a half an hour, men came to escort himself and Will from the cells. They acknowledged each other with a nod as they were taken to Lord Beckett's office of sorts.

"William Turner and Sora Tens He--"

"It's Tenshi, genius," Sora said, sounding bored.

"Right, the spiky-haired teenager with the strange sword," he said, pretty much hitting the nail on the head with his description. "I am going to offer you a trade. You will find Jack Sparrow--"

"Captain Jack Sparrow," Will and Sora said in unison.

Beckett was starting to look a bit annoyed by the interruptions. "You will find the pirate, and you will obtain his compass. I have heard tales of that compass. If you bring it back to me, then I will free Miss Swann."

"And what about me?" Sora said, leaning back in his seat. "What's to prevent me from running off just as soon as I'm out of Port Royal."

A voice came from the back corner of the room. "Information, Sora." The Apprentice was not wearing his helmet, and instead had it cradled under his left arm. With it off, Sora could see his face. He was actually fairly handsome. His hair was silver, and cut short. His brown eyes were penetrating. In his right hand he had his keyblade. The Apprentice looked up at Beckett. "May I speak to him alone?"

"Be my guest, as long as it gets me the compass," he said, and stood up at his desk. Two guards grabbed Will, and he was led out of the room.

The Apprentice sighed. "I thought he would never leave. Now then, Sora, have you ever heard of a man by the name of Davy Jones?"

Sora shivered. He had heard plenty of legends about the demon pirate, doomed to spend eternity at sea aboard the Flying Dutchman. "Yeah?"

"Legend says that in order to make himself immortal, he cut out his heart--his physical heart, mind you--and locked it away in a chest. I want you to find the Dead Man's Chest for me. Do so, and I will reward you most handsomely. Those three keyblade apprentices, Terra, Ventus, and Aqua, know nothing about the keyblade's true power. I can tell you information that you would never gain otherwise."

"How would I find the chest?"

"Captain Sparrow's compass has a great magical force driving it. It will direct you to the thing that your heart wants most. Find that compass, and it won't be difficult to find the chest."

The boy's eyes narrowed. He looked down at his right hand, where the keyblade would come with the slightest bidding. How much did he actually know about it? That it could open any lock, and could seal the keyholes. "Deal," he said. The apprentice smirked.

"I knew you'd see it my way, Sora." He called Beckett back in, along with Will and the guards. The apprentice mimicked doffing his hat to Beckett, and left through a Corridor of Darkness.

"Fine. I'll go after the compass," Sora said, trying his best to sound reluctant to do so. Beckett smiled slightly, the smile not reaching his eyes.

"Very well then. You will be leaving . . ." he trailed off, expecting one of them to finish his statement. He was not disappointed.

"As soon as possible," Will said, rubbing his wrists. The guards had just removed his shackles. "Since you're likely going to ask, we will be going to Tortuga first." Beckett wrinkled his nose at the mention of the only town even he didn't dare to enter, lest he be strung up by his ears and made to tap-dance for the entertainment of pirates (Long story). Will nodded. "Somebody there'll know where Jack is," he explained.

---

That night ,as Sora and Will were on their way to Tortuga, Riku and Kairi were hiding behind the jail. Kairi silently checked in each of the cells, finally coming across one with a woman in a long, white dress. "Elizabeth! Up here!" she whispered.

She looked up at the barred window. "Who are you?"

"One of Sora's friends. Riku's here too, I'm just standing on his shoulders," Kairi said. Riku grunted something unintelligible. "Just get away from the bars, and be ready to run."

Elizabeth looked like she didn't quite believe that Kairi could free her, but then remembered some of the things Sora had done the last time he was here, and got as far back as possible from the wall.

Outside, Kairi got off Riku's shoulders, summoned her keyblade, and held it out in front of her. Magic started to collect on the end of it. Finally, Kairi released the hold on the magic, and the orb shot out at the wall. In a massive explosion, it was turned to rubble. Elizabeth ran out with them as guards began to wake from the noise.

The Edinburgh Trader was a fairly good ship, good enough for their purposes, at least. Riku got on easily, claiming that he was bored of his life at port, and wanted to journey elsewhere. It was a bit more complicated for Kairi and Elizabeth. They had to sneak up over the side, and hide amongst some barrels until Riku got different clothes for disguises.

"I'm going to kill Sora," he grumbled as he handed them the sailor's clothes. In a few minutes, Kairi came out, wearing slightly baggy clothes. Her hair was tucked underneath a hat. Riku examined her over. "Needs something." He snapped his fingers. In another minute, Kairi looked like a regular sailor, with dirt rubbed into her face to darken her skin.

"Hold on, needs a final touch," Kairi said, and she summoned her keyblade. From her pocket, she pulled a keychain Sora had lent her, the Metal Chocobo. She reluctantly put it onto the end of the keyblade, and the holy white of the Oathkeeper turned to a dark-gray steel. The handle turned red. She grimaced, and dismissed her keyblade. "What boy has a keyblade that's bright white with a star-shaped keychain?" she said to Riku's questioning look. "Too girly. Like that flowery one you gave me at the World that Never Was."

Lord Beckett

The head of the royal navy. He has been planning for many years to find a way to eliminate the pirates of the world. Recently, he may have found a way to do so, and needs Jack Sparrow's--Captain Jack Sparrow's--special compass. He first appeared in _Pirates of the Carribean: Curse of the Black Pearl_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yuppers, Port Royal, based off of _Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest_. But if you've read other people's Kingdom Hearts fics, then I'll tell you right now, my Port Royal segment isn't going to go exactly like theirs usually go. I'm not going to babble ridiculously about it.

Yeah, I've given Sora the last name Tenshi, pronounced Ten-shee. Beckett pronounced it Tens-hee. I just picked the last name randomly from the names of the guys in the credits for Kingdom Hearts II.

Yahoo! For once, I didn't babble in my Author's Note! I'll stop before that happens, and remember, reviews are always appreciated!


	30. Davy Jones

Sora finally came to in what appeared to be a cage made of bones, suspended high above a canyon, with four other men. There was Will, Mr. Gibbs, and two other men he had yet to meet. "I don't think I want to know what happened," he said, shaking his head.

"The Pelegostos captured us, stuck us in cages, and are going to eat us after they eat Jack," Gibbs said grimly.

"I was right. I didn't want to know what happened." Sora looked around, trying to find a way out of this mess. The cage was suspended by a rope, but they could only reach it by cutting the cage apart. The chasm was too deep to survive a fall into. Finally, Sora noticed some vines hanging down from the canyon wall. "Tilt back and forth! There's vines we can climb up!"

In both their own cage and the other one, they started swinging back and forth. "Come on! We're going to need everybody if we're going to get the Pearl at sea!" Will said.

"Actually, you only need about five men," Gibbs corrected. Sora did a quick head count. About five men in each cage. Apparently, the pirates weren't that bad at math, because both cages started going back and forth even faster than before.

With one final swing, Sora's cage flew up to the wall, and all five men grabbed the vines. "Climb! Climb!" They pulled their way up quickly, none of them wanting to get left behind with a bunch of cannibals. On the top of the cliff, they encountered the issue of movement. Sora made an experimental step, and they all went tumbling. "Pull up the cage!" Will said.

"Pull up the cage! Like a lady's skirt!" Gibbs relayed to the other men. Sticking his legs through the holes in the cage, Sora scuttled along, though it was slow work.

Suddenly, a feral yell was let loose behind them. Sora tripped in surprise, sending all five of them tumbling in the cage--and right over the edge of the cliff. The cage fell apart as it smashed against the cliff. As he fell, it occurred to Sora that he could have always used the keyblade to slice through the cage bars.

After that, the only thing that Sora thought was: "YAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" The keyblade flashed into his hand, and he called up his magic. "Guard!" Thanks to his spell, one second before each of the men--and himself--hit the ground, a reflect spell took the impact.

Down on the beach, right where it had been earlier, was the _Black Pearl_. Sora hauled himself up the rigging, ignoring the two pirates who had been trying to get it going on their own. One was bald, while the other had a wooden eye.

"Wait, I'm not leaving without Jack," Will said, still on the sand. A group of cannibals started running down the beach, after Captain Jack Sparrow. Will turned back towards the ship. "Never mind, let's go!"

Afterwards, Sora wasn't quite sure how they managed to get all of them onto the _Pearl_ without anybody getting devoured by cannibals. But they did, thankfully.

"Well if it isn't Zola," Jack said, spotting Sora.

"It's Sora," he said, while he knew that Jack would never get his name right.

"Right, whatever you say, Zola," Captain Sparrow said lazily. Sora sighed. Jack moseyed along the deck, up to the wheel. "Mr. Gibbs. As we were before we were interrupted by those filthy savages."

"But you were the one who told us to beach the ship," Gibbs said. Jack shot him a look that said "shut up already, nobody cares" and the first mate grunted something before going off around the deck, telling the small crew something about a "Tia Dalma."

---

Sora swatted at a mosquito. He swatted at another mosquito. And another. And one more, before he got the idea to cast a small aeroga spell that would knock away any bugs that came near him.

From deep within the swamp, Sora spotted a light. The outrigger slowly went through the boggy water. Eventually, a small hut came into view. Tia Dalma's place. From what he could tell from stories the pirates had told him, Mr. Gibbs in particular, Tia Dalma was a voodoo woman of some sort, who Jack had consulted with before.

When they entered the hut, Sora first spotted some eyeballs in a jar, that appeared to be staring at him. As an experiment, he moved to the side. The eyes followed him.

"Ah, if it isn't Jack Sparrow." A dark-skinned woman with a Jamaican accent came from nowhere. "What might you be doing here?" She sat down at a table, with Jack sitting across from her. A few minutes went by, of trading back and forth.

Finally, after Tia Dalma had given Jack some information and a jar of dirt, they were just about to leave--Sora very happy about that, Tia Dalma was giving him the creeps--Tia Dalma's gaze turned to Sora. "Well, it has been a long time since I have seen a keybearer. But you are different from the others. Far younger." She pulled a silver charm from her pocket, and tossed it to Sora. "Destiny not so much touches as it chases you, Sora Tenshi(1)."

"Th-thank you," he stuttered, really starting to get freaked out. For a moment, there appeared to be more than just a voodoo woman living in a swamp. Something older, and even more powerful.

Once outside the hut, while heading back to the _Black Pearl_, Sora examined the summon charm Tia Dalma had given him. While one part of him said that he shouldn't trust anything that woman had given him, he pocketed it anyways. As his mother would say, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

---

At their next destination, Sora was starting to really want to go back to the swamp. Although, a few minutes later, he was really occupied with the idea that maybe it wouldn't be too bad to not get that information about the keyblade. What use would it be, after all, if he were dead?

"We're here to settle Jack Sparrow's debt," Will said to Davy Jones.

Jack, from the safety of the Pearl, called out: "Whaddya say? Those two for me?"

"One soul is not equal to another," Jones said through his tentacle beard.

"And how many souls would you assume mine to be worth?"

Jones thought for a moment. "A hundred souls. Three days. You got two right here. That's ninety-eight more."

"Aye, but the boy has a key-sword. Lot's of magic, he's got to be worth at least five souls, ten, even."

Davy Jones looked at Sora, and the latter tried--quite unsuccessfully--to not show any fear. The demon-Captain grabbed Sora's neck with his claw-arm. In his struggle to free himself, Sora summoned the keyblade. "You don't belong on this world," he said. With a grunt, he tossed the keybearer over the side of the _Flying Dutchman_, twenty yards away from either ship. "Make that ninety-nine souls, Sparrow." The ship dove below the surface of the water.

For a moment, it looked as though the _Pearl_ was going to pick him up. But Sora could only watch as the pirate ship raised its black sails, and flew off with the wind, without him. While he treaded water, Sora only said one thing.

"I'm going to kill Jack Sparrow."

Tia Dalma

A voodoo witch doctor, and an old "friend" of Jack's. She was the one who gave him his compass. She is somewhat strange, but very wise. However, there's something about here that isn't quite right . . . She first appeared in _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_.

Davy Jones

The man without a heart, cursed to roam the seas forever after being betrayed by the goddess of the sea and his lover, Calypso. He struck a deal with Jack Sparrow thirteen years ago. Jones would raise the _Wicked Wench_, later renamed the _Black Pearl_, from the ocean's depths, and after thirteen years as captain, Jack would serve as part of the crew of the _Flying Dutchman_ for a hundred years. If Jones doesn't get Jack as a crew member, Jack will forever be chased by the Kraken. He first appeared in _Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) I like that phrase, "Destiny not so much touches as chased you." It sounds kinda cool.

Oh noez! Sora's stuck in the middle of the ocean! And Jack Sparrow's going to die, whether it be by Kraken or Keyblade. Next chapter has some funny in it, as Elizabeth, Riku, and Kairi head to Tortuga.

Badhraa -- For real? I just saw the name "Tenshi" in the credits for Kingdom Heart II, thought it sounded cool, and gave it to Sora. But I can't deny that it fits.


	31. Station of Peace

The Edinburgh Trader floated gently on the sea. Thanks to a bit of Kairi's magic, it was going quite fast, pushed by the wind. Night descended upon it, and most of the crew fell asleep in their bunks, minus a few necessary men needed to keep the ship going.

Kairi found herself a small corner nobody would bother her in, placed down a pillow she had stolen--borrowed from the captain's quarters, and quickly descended into blissful sleep. She dreamt of Sora, and doors, and flying fish, but one in particular was important.

The platform shone brightly. On it was a stained-glass picture of herself, holding the Oathkeeper. Her eyes were just barely open. Next to her face were two pictures. One was of Sora, who was in a heart, and the other was of Riku. Sitting in the middle of the platform on a little wooden chair, drawing in a notepad, was a girl with platinum-blond hair.

"Hi Naminé," Kairi said.

The nobody looked up, at first smiling, but then her face turned to amusement. "What are you wearing?"

"Sailor clothes," Kairi responded matter-of-factly. "What'cha drawing?" Naminé's face turned red, and she tried to hide the picture from Kairi, unsuccessfully. "How many pictures are you going to draw of Roxas?" Kairi said, giggling. This wasn't her first time seeing Naminé in her dreams, it was her third.

"I could say the same thing about you and Sora," Naminé retorted, pulling the sketchpad away from Kairi's grip. To embellish her point, she flipped to a picture of Kairi on the ground, drawing, surrounded by pictures of Sora sitting, standing, laughing, fighting--

"I get it already!" Kairi blew a strand of hair from her face. "Can't I have anything to myself?"

Naminé sighed. "Kairi, I'm your nobody. You have no secrets from me when it comes to Sora, not even the one about how you wonder what it would be like to kiss him." Kairi was about to argue, when Naminé again flipped to a picture. In it, Kairi was in her bed, making out with a pillow.

"That was a private moment! Aw, who asked you?!"

"You did, but that's beside the point," Naminé said. She turned to a third page in the sketchbook. All that was there was a small, golden key. A slight breath of magic blew past Kairi, and the key rose from the page, and became solid. It was nothing intricate, just a key.

Naminé plucked it out of the air. She examined it momentarily before offering it to Kairi. "I think it's yours," she said.

Kairi took it carefully, expecting something amazing to happen. Nothing. It was just plain metal. "Well, that was anticlimactic," she stated flatly. "It's just a key."

"Every key opens something," Naminé pointed out. Her face turned to look at the abyss that surround the Station of Peace. "I think it's time for you to wake up now. See you, Kairi."

Kairi opened her eyes. A man was going around the deck, yelling that they were soon to land in Tortuga. She opened her right hand, and sure enough, there was the key. How it went from her dream to the real world, she would never know, but she pocketed it anyways. Kairi then stood up to watch the ship slowly approach Tortuga.

"When I said I wanted to see other worlds," Riku said, "this isn't exactly what I was imagining." He didn't say it, but if he'd known that places like the Faithful Bride bar were out in the universe, he likely wouldn't have wanted to ever leave Destiny Island in the first place. A man was thrown across the bar, yet nobody seemed to notice.

The man stood up, apparently drunk. He mumbled something incomprehensible. For a moment, Riku felt like he knew him. Then it hit him. The goatee. The fancy way of talking. Plus, the playing cards appearing out of nowhere didn't hurt. "Luxord?"

"The name's--" he hiccupped "--Rould, boy. And who might you be, that knows my once-was identity?"

"Riku. I'm a friend of Sora's," he said. Unlike what he expected at the mention of the boy who sort-of killed him, Rould just hiccupped again. "Are you drunk?"

"Yus," Rould said, giggling stupidly. Riku got an idea in his head, that would be sort of mean, but he didn't care, because it would probably also be very funny. Riku just barely flicked Rould's shoulder, and the drunken man fell over backwards. Riku smiled evilly, before Kairi dragged him off(1).

Apparently, Elizabeth had found Jack Sparrow at the dock, looking for more crew members. Completely forgetting about Riku, Kairi stormed up to Jack, summoned the Metal Chocobo, and stuck the end under his chin. "Where, is, Sora?" she said through gritted teeth.

"Spiky brown hair, blue eyes, giant shoes?" Kairi nodded. "Never heard of him."

Kairi breathed deeply. She removed her hat, and her red hair fell down around her face. "Look, you have about five seconds to tell me where he is, before I decide to push my keyblade just a bit further, and move your windpipe to a separate location. Savvy?"

"I am unsure of his current predicament, but I can say that he went to negotiate a debt concerning my life's breath with a certain being of the sea, and he has yet to return," Jack said carefully.

"Huh?"

Riku sighed. "He traded Sora to Davy Jones in order to save his own soul from eternity in Davy Jones' locker, but because Sora isn't from this world, Jones tossed Sora overboard and this pirate here didn't get him from the ocean. So now, he doesn't know where Sora is."

Before Kairi could rearrange his internal organs(2), Jack raised a finger. "Ah, but there is a way for both you and Elizabeth to get your men back." He led the way onto the Black Pearl. Riku followed reluctantly, never having like pirates since his time aboard Captain Hook's ship.

From his pocket, Jack produced a compass. "This compass points to what you most desire." He pressed it into Elizabeth's hand. "You wish to save your man, and to do that, you require the Heart of Davy Jones."

Elizabeth opened the cover of the compass. The point spun around, eventually settling in one direction. "That way, Jack, to the Heart of Davy Jones."

Rould

Luxord's Other. He's a pirate, but currently lacks a boat or crew, which is why he plays poker to make money. If only those guys in the bar knew what they were getting in to . . . He once was in love with a woman named Lulu (no relation to the Lulu of Final Fantasy X) who ran off with another man. Rould was heartbroken, and so he attempted to commit suicide. That night, the heartless happened to attack Port Royal, and Rould lost his heart. He no longer loves Lulu, realizing that she wasn't that beautiful, or nice, or really nothing good, but calls his deck of cards Lulu as a testament to her, and as a reminder to never trust women. Rould sort of appeared in _Kingdom Hearts II_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) If this appears out of character for Riku, just be aware that I can see him doing this, and that he really isn't a fan of the rest of the Organization (or their Others) besides Xion. Besides, who wouldn't do this?

(2) Kairi does not like people messing with her man! And she also doesn't like dressing up like a man.

I liked writing this chapter, it was funny, especially the bit with Rould. That was fun. And Kairi does talk with Namine in her dreams, occasionally but not always. Right . . . Hey, I think I'm finally getting better at not drabbling in my Author's Note! Yay!

Hilda: Good for you, now can we get on with this! I think that Craig's tied himself to a tree.

She's going to be showing up later. She's very serious. Now, Hilda, I'll let you go as soon as you say it.

Hilda: Fine. Remember, reviews are appreciated. Can I go?

Whatever.

Shadom 500 -- Thank you, it's nice of you to say that.


	32. Isla Cruces

Sora stepped onto the sand, and yawned. He dug through a pocket of his magical pants, finally finding an Elixir. He downed it quickly, his energy rushing back to him with the golden liquid.

With new energy, and his magic replenished, Sora began looking around the island. It didn't take long for him to spot the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman both anchored offshore, but in separate directions. Within the forest, he saw two people standing, looking like they were wondering what was going on.

"Riku! Kairi!" Both of them swirled around, but it was Kairi who ran fast as the wind to Sora. She grabbed him in a bear hug. "Don't worry, I'm fine. Although, Jack Sparrow's not going to be fine once I get done with him."

"Oh, I'm so afraid." Sora let go of Kairi, gave her a smile, then turned to Jack, summoning his keyblade at the same time. "A teenager with a giant key."

"From what I remember, your tongue is sharper than your sword, Jack," Sora said, surprising even himself with the ease the statement came to him. "But wit alone won't help you when it's sword-on-sword."

"Actually," Jack corrected, "it's closer to sword-on-sword-on-sword-on-sword. But whatever floats your boat, mate." Just as he said it, Will Turner and former-Commodore Norrington came from the forest, sword fighting over a key. In less than a minute, the three men had run off, dirty fighting all the way.

"What just happened?"

"They're fighting over the key to the Dead Man's Chest," Riku stated. "Both me and Kairi tried using our keyblades to open it, but there must be something that prevents a keyblade from being able to open it."

Knowing that if the keyblade couldn't open the chest, he'd need the key, Sora ran off after the men, while Riku and Kairi were once again left wondering what was going on.

The keyblade master caught up with them at an old mill. The creek that had moved the water wheel had long since dried up, and the wheel looked like it could very well come loose with barely any force at all. "Wow, this author stinks at foreshadowing," Sora said as he ran.

Fighting on the top of the mill was Will and Norrington. Jack was running up the narrow steps, looking like he would fall off at any moment. Sora thought quickly, grabbed one of the ropes hanging down, and cut the bell's support rope. He zoomed upwards, and the bell fell to the ground with a clang. Will and Norrington transferred their fight to the small part of the building connected to the water wheel. Sora reached out, trying to grab the key from where it hung on Norrington's belt. The man spun around, and Sora fell down to avoid getting his head sliced off.

Meanwhile, Jack was being threatened by Norrington. "Mind if I kill the man who ruined my life?" he said to Will.

"Be my guest."

Down below, Sora grabbed the edge of the roof, swung himself upward, and landed on the roof, sending Jack flying away in the process. He felt like he must have missed something of the conversation, or something like that, as Norrington spun around trying to get Will. The latter dodged the swipe, and the both of them jumped onto the water wheel. As this author's quite obvious foreshadowing suggested, the wheel broke off of its support, and started to roll away.

Before it could get too far off, Sora ran alongside it and starting running in it. Jack Sparrow jumped in as well. Both of them ended up running into a pole that had come out of nowhere, the difference being that Jack fell out, while Sora managed to stay inside. He saw something metal hanging from the inside of the wheel. He tried to grab the key, but was stopped by Will's sword. Will grabbed the key, and flipped back around to the outside of the wheel. Sora followed him, and got locked in a heated sword fight. Neither of them noticed how Jack had somehow gotten his disgusting hands on the key, and was running away as fast as he could.

The wheel, at one point, rolled past a kid on a tricycle, who watched the fight go down. His gum bubble popped all over his face.

The water wheel got closer and closer to the ocean, where Riku and Kairi were fighting off members of Davy Jones' crew. Sora dove off the side of the wheel, right into the sand. He spat out a mouthful of sand, stood up, and started fighting alongside his friends. He couldn't help but notice how Kairi was using the Metal Chocobo, instead of the Oathkeeper. It did blend with her outfit better than the Oathkeeper did, but he still was surprised that she used it.

Kairi cut away with her keyblade, and took a charm from her pocket. "Give me strength!" The great lion, Aslan, appeared with a flash of light, and a roar. Kairi jumped on his back, and he began running at the fish-men, with Kairi firing off magic spells as he ran. After a few minutes of this, Kairi slipped off his back, and Aslan vanished back to Narnia. Even after their rampage, their were still a ton of fish-men.

With no other ideas, the three of them implemented the oldest trick in the book. Running away while screaming at the top of their lungs(1).

The three of them scrambled onto the Black Pearl where it was anchored off-shore. Nobody seemed to notice them as they tried to get the ship going. Just as they were starting to sail, the Flying Dutchman appeared.

"Hold on, hold on," Jack said, toting the jar of dirt from Tia Dalma. "I can deal with this." He went to the side of the ship, and called out the Jones: "Oy, squid-face!"

Kairi turned to Sora. "How long would it take for the gummi ship to get here?"

"Too long," he responded sadly.

Jack skipped along the deck. "I've got a jar dirt! I've got a jar of dirt! And guess what's inside of it!" Sora could just imagine Jones steaming mad. As should be expected, Jack tripped while he was skipping, and dropped his jar of dirt. The glass shattered, and dirt spilled out everywhere. Jack looked through all the dirt, saying "Where is it? Where's the thump-thump?"

Sora think that he had it figured out. While he and Will had been duking it out on the water wheel, Jack had stolen the key, found the Dead Man's Chest, and gotten the heart of Davy Jones, then stowed it away in his jar of dirt. Then, somebody else had stolen the heart from the jar of dirt. But who?

"Norrington," he murmured. Of course. The only other person who had been trying to get the key. "Kairi, get a wind going." She nodded, and summoned her keyblade. She replaced the keychain with the Oathkeeper for the magical element to it. She let out a steady flow of magic, pushing the wind as fast as it could go. Sora supplied her with his own magic.

The crew of the Pearl started running around like crazy, trying to get the ship going. Boosted by Kairi's wind, it sailed faster than it ever had before. Suddenly, a tremor rocked the ocean itself. The Kraken was coming.

And it was coming fast. Within two minutes of the tremor going off, tentacles began wrapping around the ship. Sora beat them off when he got the chance, but they just kept on coming. Nothing they did was enough. But despite all that, Sora was still surprised when he heard Jack's command: "Abandon ship."

Everybody else seemed just a shocked as Sora, if not more so. Nobody wanted to die, but still. Jack had spent ten years trying to get his ship back, and now, he was giving up.

Men piled into the longboats. Sora noticed something. Jack was gone. "Stop! Jack's still on the Pearl!"

Elizabeth was first to speak up. "He was the one that the Kraken was after. He's going to stay behind, so we can get away." Somewhere, Sora doubted that Jack would willingly stay behind for anybody else, but he paddled the longboat anyways. The Kraken attacked the ship, destroying it, and sending Jack Sparrow--Captain Jack Sparrow--to Davy Jones' Locker.

---

Sora sighed. "You know, Jack was a pain, but he was still a friend." He spun around in his seat. They had gone back to the Gummi Ship first opportunity(2).

"But Sora," Kairi said, still in her sailor get-up. "Why did you go after the key in the first place?"

He hesitated. "Because the apprentice offered me a trade. Information about the keyblade, in exchange for the Heart of Davy Jones. Don't know why I accepted it in the first place."

"You don't know anything about the keyblade," Riku stated. "I would have done the same thing." He leaned back in his seat, and summoned the Way to Dawn. "The Soul Eater transformed when I saw Kairi and Naminé being threatened by Saix. I guess it might be because I was worried for them, but I don't know for sure." He dismissed the keyblade.

"And while you guys were sparring on the beach," Kairi said, "I was just making sure you guys didn't kill each other. I wasn't ever very good. But with Oathkeeper, it almost gives its knowledge to me, helps me fight."

Sora sighed once again. "Well, it's been three days. Looks like we have to head to Sunrise Beach and meet the others. Though I gotta say, compared to Davy Jones and the Kraken, those guys are like kittens or somethin'." He set the coordinates, straight for Ale's home.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Works every time.

(2) As in, before they knew that about the former crew of the Black Pearl, Will, and Elizabeth going after Jack in Davy Jones' Locker. Or Barbossa being back.

Yuppers! This was somewhat boring to write, and I'm not sure how well it turned out. But, that's beside the point. Somebody, _anybody_, ask me the how Sora got to the Isla Cruces!

BTW, my little sister, the one I called DarkGuitarGoddess in a couple previous chapters, now has an account. She and I are working together (Read: I type and she comes up with all of the jokes) on a crack-fic, that should be up today. Or tomorrow. Sometime or another. Yeah . . .


	33. Return to Neverland

"YAAAAAHHHHH!!!" Xion yelled as she plummeted toward the ocean. She landed with a large splash. "I'm going to kill Jessie," she said once she reached the surface again.

"Hey, Oni, did you want to go for a swim?" Jessie said from the gummi. He laughed.

"You set off a stink bomb!"

Oro appeared beside Jessie. He had a wide smile on his face. "Sorry to break it to you, but that wasn't a stink bomb."

Xion moaned at her friend's disgusting sense of humor, and swam around. Surprisingly, the water was rather warm. Regardless, she took Jessie's outstretched hand, and he pulled her back up. The gummi ship just hovered over the water for perhaps two minutes before an island came into view. Neverland, the place where kids never grow up.

No sooner had they landed on the beach than a boy came flying out of the forest. Literally, he was flying. "Hey, where'd you come from?" Peter Pan said, a wide smile on his face. He got very close to Xion, within two inches. "Who're you?"

"I'm Xion, and these are my friends, Jessie and Oro," she said, backing away from Peter. He scooted closer to her again. "Uh, ever hear of a little thing called personal space?"

Peter completely ignored her question. "Do you know a guy called Sora?"

"Unfortunately," Xion replied. "Yeah, you know him?"

He nodded quickly. Peter then turned around, put his fingers to his lips, and whistled hard. A little person came from the forest. Tinker Bell saw Xion, and must have not liked what she saw, because she tried flying away again, before Peter grabbed her. "Come on, Tink."

"Hey Tinker Bell, just so you know, I think that he's very annoying, if you don't like me because you're jealous or something," Xion said. Tinker Bell immediately stopped struggling, and her face brightened. To the amazed looks on Jessie and Oro's faces, Xion just shrugged.

Tinker Bell flew above them, spraying pixie dust all over them. "Now, you can fly!" Peter Pan said ecstatically.

Always one to believe something magical, Oro closed his eyes, and jumped into the air, and whooped gleefully when he remained in the air. "Check it out! It's a bird, it's a plane, no it's--" In his excitement, Oro failed to notice the tree coming up fast, which he promptly slammed into.

"It's an idiot," Xion said, laughing. Oro extracted himself from the bushes, and flew back into the air, more careful to not fly into anything this time.

Jessie shrugged, but went more methodically, and lifted one leg into the air, and the other, and shot upwards. "Come on, Oni, this is great!"

"Uh," she said. "You know, I think I'll just walk. Me and heights don't exactly get along very well."

"But you were able to handle all those skyscrapers back home, with just a rope holding you up. What' so different now?"

"Don't you remember the last one I went up on?"

Jessie and Oro traded glances. Of course. Anybody wouldn't be a fan of heights after falling off a building and nearly killing themselves. But, this wouldn't stop the two boys. Both of them swooped down, and they each grabbed Xion by an arm, dragging her back up into the air. She squirmed in their grip, before they had her to the height where she would get a few broken bones if she fell.

"Please take me back down to the ground," Xion pleaded.

"Come on, Oni, it's fun," Oro said.

"My name is--"

Oro and Jessie sighed. "We'll always call you Oni, because that's your name," Jessie said. "Just while we're in Neverland, be Oni. Who knows, maybe you'll find that you like it better than your nobody's name."

She rolled her eyes. "Fine," Oni said. "Now then, if you don't mind, take me back to the ground." Her friends looked at each other, grinning mischievously.

"Fine, we'll let you go. Express," Jessie said. Both of them let go of her arms, and she went hurtling to the ground. As she fell, screaming, Jessie said, "Okay, what's going to happen if she doesn't start flying?"

"She'll kill you no matter what happens." Oni had somehow slipped behind them, floating in the air. She looked at the both of them, arms crossed, clearly irritated.

That moment was interrupted by Peter and Tinker Bell flying up to them. "Now that you guys can fly, could you help me out with something?" He didn't wait for an answer, and continued talking. "Can you help me find my shadow? I had a feeling you might know where I could find it."

"You lost your shadow?" Jessie said skeptically.

"Remember, this is a different world," Oni pointed out. "Here, it could be perfectly normal to lose your shadow. Am I right, Pan?"

"Nope!"

Oni's face grew bewildered. "Right. I guess we could help you. Or more specifically, I could. Maybe we'll find the source of that darkness, too." She snapped her fingers, and her shadow on the ground rose up to fly beside her. It was a perfect copy of herself, but all black and had golden eyes like a heartless. It bowed to her, awaiting orders.

"Sweet," Jessie and Oro said in unison.

Oni waved it off, and turned to her clone. "Can you find this guy's shadow?" she said, pointing to Peter. Her shadow flew near him, examining him. It turned back to Oni, and nodded. "Okay then, lead us there!"

As it led them over the land, Oro asked, "So how can you do that shadow thing?"

"Dunno," Oni replied with a shrug. "All of the Organization members could control an element, Vexen had ice, Saix had moon, Luxord had time, so on and so forth. I didn't even discover that I could control darkness until I fought Axel, and I basically went berserk, fighting in tandem with the shadow clone."

"How is moon an element?"

"No clue, dude. No clue."

The Shadow led them past the other beach of the island, and they grew closer and closer to a pirate ship anchored off shore. "So, Hook's got my shadow," Peter said as he floated lazily on his back. "He's going to regret he ever messed with Peter Pan!" He flipped over, tucked his arms and legs in, and shot off like a rocket toward the ship. Oni, Jessie, Oro, and the Shadow followed him in the same manner.

On the ship, nobody was around, strangely. Then again, it was closing on 11:00, so probably everybody was asleep. Once they landed on deck, the Shadow rejoined with its mistress. Peter still flew a few inches above the ground, and looked through a small porthole in a door. He gestured to Tinker Bell, and opened the door to Captain Hook's Quarters just enough for her to slip inside. The fairy flew inside, carefully making sure to not jingle or give off too much light. A few minutes later, she reappeared, and Peter closed the door.

"So what did you find?" The sound of bells came from Tinker Bell. "A chest?" Another ring. "Hm, can't sneak in there without him waking up." A loud ring. "Only one way to get it then." Peter flew high into the air, and much to Oni's surprise, crowed loudly. There was a flurry of movement in the ship, and Captain Hook appeared from his quarters, fully dressed.

"Where is he?! Where's Pan?! I knew he couldn't leave behind his shadow!" Hook looked up in the air, and drew his sword at the sight of the boy who never grew up. "Blast that Peter Pan!" One of the pirates that had come from below deck lit a fuse on his cannon, and sent a ball of metal flying at Peter. He flew out of the way like it was a game. Which to him, it was.

Meanwhile, Jessie appeared from the cabin, a chest tucked under his left arm. "Got it!"

"Aw, we can't leave just yet! It was just getting fun!" Peter swooped down and grabbed Hook's flamboyant hat. He threw the hat over his shoulder, and laughed.

"That's it, Pan!" Captain Hook snapped his fingers, and a squad of heartless appeared, pirates, air pirates, and battleships. "Get them!"

Oni summoned her keyblade, Oro pulled out his bow and separated it into the two halves, and Jessie drew his sword. The three of them flew into action, quite literally, destroying heartless left and right. Oni looked to her friends. "Jessie!"

"I'm ready!" Jessie dropped the chest to the ground, and flipped his sword up in the air. He flew up, grabbed it, and brought it slamming down over the head of a heartless. Oni was sent flying by the resulting shockwave, and aimed her keyblade at the ground. Blasts of magic rained down. She landed behind Jessie, and they stood back-to-back. They looked at each other, nodded, and both of them threw their swords. The blades spun around them, faster and faster, eliminating any heartless on the ground. They caught their swords, and slammed fists.

Battleships flying around were starting to drop bombs all over the place, and generally being very annoying. "Oro!"

"Eat my pants!" Oro spun his blades around, destroying the heartless closest to him, snapped them together, and held the bow in his left hand. With his right hand, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a red spray can. He tossed it to Oni, who flew up to a battleship and drew a target on it, bulls-eye and all. Oro pulled back the string on his bow, and a glowing green arrow the same shade of green as his hair and eyes flew toward the target, hitting it right on mark. They did the same thing over and over again, destroying the battleships and the air pirates as well.

While they destroyed the heartless, Peter grew bored with torturing Hook. He whistled to the trio, Jessie grabbed the chest, and they took off back towards shore. Peter led them to a cave. Jessie dropped the chest down onto the stone. "Now that that's done, we can focus on finding that darkness here." No sooner had Jessie said this than Peter had opened the chest, and the shadow came from inside. It flew across the room, and looked very solid.

It laughed with a laugh that didn't sound like Peter's. It was much deeper, much more malevolent. "You want your shadow back, then you'll have to beat me!"

"I think I know what the darkness is," Oro said unnecessarily. It was fairly obvious to all of them. Peter drew his dagger, Oni summoned her keyblade, Jessie drew his sword, and Oro flipped around his bow in his hand. "Bring it on!"

Peter's Shadow

The shadow of Peter Pan, possessed. It is able to do everything Peter can do, is super strong, super fast, and is very skilled in fighting. It'll take a bit of skill to take this thing down. Its laugh is horrible, very creepy, but somehow familiar.

* * *

**Author's Note**

I like these fights in Neverland, the one in this chapter and the one in the next chapter. Xion--ahem, 'Oni'--Oro, and Jessie's world only goes for two chapters, but I still like it. Funny, and shows a bit more of their friendship. It's hard to show that when you have nine characters around that you have to take care of. By the way, I'm sorry if it was confusing how I referred to Xion as Oni the entire chapter. It's just that Oro and Jessie threatened to spray paint me if I didn't. Actually, I just wanted to.

That was Xion and Jessie's _Sky Launch_ and Xion and Oro's _Scraper Painter_.


	34. Tag!

A blast echoed around the cave. Oro slid down the wall and landed on the sand. "Ugh, for a shadow, he hits hard." He watched his friends and Peter continue to try and get the jump on the Shadow. Each time, it got away from their attacks easily and countered with a kick. Oro slid around the side of the cavern, sticking to the shadows to avoid being seen.

When he was right behind the Shadow, Oro pulled back the string on his bow, and aimed very carefully. He wasn't going to get a second shot at this. The arrow flew through the air, and hit the Shadow right in the back. The green light swam over it as it screamed it pain. It spun around, saw Oro doing his victory dance, and sent a blast of dark energy flying at him.

Oro was already gone, flying away as fast as he could. He flew around, but the Shadow had learned its lesson, watching them all to make sure that they couldn't sneak up on him. Oro landed on the sand. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a piece of metal in the sand. He dug it up and examined it. It was shaped like a police badge, but there was a sort of magical power coming off of it. "I hope this works," he said, and clutched the summon charm. "Ace!"

In a flash of light, a man in a floral shirt appeared. He whipped off his sunglasses and placed them in his pocket with a flourish. "If I'm not done in a minute, just wait longer."

Oro gestured at the Shadow, which Oni had engaged and was being beaten horribly. "You have any idea how to beat that thing?"

Ace tapped his chin. He licked his finger and stuck it in the air like he was testing the wind. "Your friend can use a certain spell called gravity, correct? Have her use that, then I can help you defeat it with my personal brand of Ace-fu!" He chopped through the air with a "Hyaa!"

"Wow, this guy's even more nutty than I am," Oro said in amazement. He called up to Oni. "Hey, use a gravity on it!" Oni held her keyblade in the air, and a dark orb pushed the Shadow down to the ground against its will.

Before anybody could say another word, Ace ran up to it, legs flailing, and started slapping it across the face over and over again. The Shadow stumbled back dizzily, but it wasn't over yet, not even close.

From some invisible pocket, Ace pulled out a football. He placed it on the ground. "Laces up," he said quietly. Oro ran and kicked the football hard, right at the Shadow! It exploded on contact, and the Shadow screeched, before falling down to the ground. The Shadow slid over rock before rejoining with Peter. Ace Ventura grinned in triumph. "Loser!" he said before vanishing back to his own world(1).

---

Jessie hit a button on the dashboard of the gummi ship, and whistled. "How long were we in Neverland?"

"I dunno," Xion said, playing around with a Rubik's Cube(2). "Five hours? Six? I lost track of how long we just spent playing around with the lost boys. Why?"

"Cause this clock said we were there for a couple days," Jessie said, gesturing to the computer with his thumb.

"Meh, time probably passes differently there," Xion replied. "Whatever, we can head out to Sunrise Beach now."

Jessie shrugged, and turned to put in the coordinates for the small world, before he noticed something. "Hey, you guys, there's a warp portal right nearby. Looks like it leads to . . ." His face brightened. "Aurora City! And Aurora City's really close to Sunrise Beach. Maybe we could take a little visit home before we meet up with the others," he suggested.

"I'm all for it," Oro said, who was standing on his head for some odd reason.

Xion looked at her friends, realized she was outvoted, and sighed. "Whatever."

Jessie pumped his fist, and directed the gummi ship toward the warp portal. The ship flew through it, with shimmering lights going by the windows. When the light cleared, he could see their home world in all its skyscraper-filled glory. "Guys, I just figured something out." Oro and Xion gestured for him to continue. "It's three days until Halloween. They'll have cleaned off the spot by now. Whaddya say, one last tag, for old time's sake?"

When the trio got off their gummi ship, Jessie was quite happy, Oro was practically turning cartwheels, and Xion, while still pretty excited, was remembering the different parts of the tag she would have to do. If this was going to be the last one, she wanted it to be her best one yet.

The sun dipped below the horizon, and the famous lights danced across the sky. Xion, Oro, and Jessie got up to the top of the building, and Xion tied the harness around her waist. Despite their flying in Neverland, she wasn't over her fear of heights, so she made sure that she could catch herself with a reflect spell before she hit bottom. Oro pulled his backpack of spray cans off his back, and Jessie was ready to brace himself against the roof.

Xion gave them a thumbs up, and started to go down the side of the building. She could feel adrenaline running through her veins at the thought of finally putting their tag up in the spot most of those other guys only dreamed of going on.

Oro handed her a can a black paint, and she tucked her shirt over her mouth and nose, and started to go. She was careful with the outline, which she thought was one of the hardest parts. Next came red paint, brown, and purple for the shadows. Finally Oro handed her a fresh can of black, for the background. The final spot was filled in, and Xion tossed up the near-empty can of spray paint. Jessie pulled her back up, and the three of them went down to inspect Xion's work on the building.

The sight that greeted them was a beautiful mark, better than all of the paintings down at the art museum in all three of their opinions. A rose, dying. Petals flew off, the stem and leaves were brown. A solitary drop of blood slid down the stem. It was all on a jet black background.

"Awesome," Jessie said simply. "Just awesome."

"Yeah," Oro agreed. "Hey, what about a pair of underwear?"

Xion and Jessie's expressions changed from awe to one that showed an utmost degree of surprise (In internet terms, one might express it as: O.o). "What are you talking about?" Xion said incredulously.

"I mean, uh." Oro hesitated, not quite able to express his completely random saying. "Why do they call it a pair of underwear if it's only one, you know, pair?"

Xion slapped her forehead. "How random could you possibly get?"

"Well," Jessie said thoughtfully. "There's the double-barreled shotgun. It has two barrels, but you don't call it a pair of guns."

"What's this about guns?" asked a gruff voice from behind them. They spun around to see a police officer sporting a very bushy mustache and sideburns. "When I ask a question, I expect it to be answered."

"Our friend was wondering why you called a pair of panties just that when it was only one thing, and so we compared it to a double-barreled shotgun," Xion said with a straight face.

"`Kay, then I hope you won't mind tellin' me why you kids are out at one in the morning on a school night? 'Specially when there's that new mark up on the wall?"

"That," Oro said, "is an excellent question. You see . . ." He glanced at Xion and Jessie, who nodded. Oro looked back at the police officer and screamed "KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN!!!" The police officer stumbled back, and Oro and his friends dashed off. The police officer shook his head, and walked off, not about to waste his time and energy going after just a few graffiti artists.

Oro cackled. "Take that, authority figures!"

Ace Ventura

A private pet detective. He appears insane, but he's one of the best detectives out there. He prevented the murder of a big-time football player, and saved a dolphin in his first appearance, which was in _Ace Ventura: Pet Detective_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) My sister requested the Ace Ventura summon, and you can't deny that it fits Oro.

(2) Xion has had that Rubik's Cube since she joined the Organization. She's not gonna solve it anytime soon.

Ah, how I love the smell of humor at four in the afternoon. I like making weird and random jokes. DAMON'S!!!

Oro: *blinks* I don't get it.

Neither do I.

Jessie: So I was wondering . . . how did Sora get to the Isla Cruces?

FINALLY! SOMEBODY ASKED ME! I mean, uh, would you like to answer, Jack? Oh yeah, he's dead. Captain Barbossa?

Barbossa: Sea turtles, mate. Remember, reviews are always demanded *get ribbed by Phoenix* Eh, I mean, appreciated.

That was _Ace's Football Fun Time_.


	35. Nextel Stadium

Terra watched as a guy ran past him and practically drooled over this car that was parked in the dirt. Something really sleek and fast, that would probably get its owner many speeding tickets. Meanwhile, Ven was making a fool of himself for some blondes, and Aqua was flipping a guy who had tried hitting on her onto his back. Terra heard a sound like a gunshot, and he turned around to see that it was a car that had backfired. It wheeled toward him, and he stuck out a foot to stop it.

"What the heck?" he asked nobody in particular. Most of the cars at this place were all things that did look pretty cool, and this thing looked more out of place than a rabid Kingdom Hearts fangurl at a Kairi-appreciation convention. The Volkswagen was covered in dirt, and had a messed-up paint job. A girl with bright red hair came from the drivers seat, coughing. Terra raised an eyebrow. "What's up with your car?"

The girl looked at him, and raised an eyebrow herself. "What's up with your clothes?"

Terra shrugged. "Touché. Seriously, why do you have a bug like that at this place?"

"I was looking for some parts to fix it up," she said. "But I don't think that anything's going to fix Herbie."

"You named your car?" asked a guy who had been on the passenger side. "What are you, Maggie, one of those hicks from down south?"

"He was already named that!"

Terra backed away slowly. It didn't really matter, the two of them were too absorbed in their argument to notice him. He found Aqua wiping the dust off her hands. "I think that this world is beyond help. Sorta like Wonderland. Maybe we should head out, find somewhere else."

Aqua rolled her eyes. "You're just afraid that you'll get run over by one of these cars. Besides, I wanted to tell you that I can feel something extremely powerful nearby."

"Darkness powerful?"

"No." Aqua's eyes narrowed. "Not darkness. Closer to the Cornerstone of Light. Not bad, exactly. But old, very old. And powerful. If you don't mind, I intend to find out what it is." She stepped out of the way of Ven, who had been running so fast he would have run right into her, making for an awkward moment.

"Hey, there's something weird going on here," Ven said. "I'm not sure, I but I could have sworn I saw the apprentice walk by, look straight at me, and keep walking without attacking me. He went that way." He pointed in the direction of a van and a sleek sports car, where some big racer was talking into a microphone.

The guy just oozed that big cheese aura around him, the kind of guy who thought that he was all that. "And so, you're all going to get to be the first to know about this thing." He reached down and grabbed something from a box. "It's my new videogame. Tripp Murphy Undefeated." Cheers went up around the crowd as some of Murphy's flunkies tossed around the copies of his videogame.

Suddenly, a screeching noise filled everyone's ears. The bug that had almost run into Terra earlier was scratching a line along Murphy's car with its mirror. "Somebody doesn't like Tripp," he said.

Within minutes, Murphy was in his car, and the girl Maggie was in Herbie, and they were about to race. Terra scanned over the crowd, and saw somebody that stood out. A young man his own age in black armor, wearing a helmet. The apprentice had his hand out, and a dark aura surrounded it. A trail of darkness went from his hand, straight to Murphy's car. Terra pointed it out to Aqua.

"I hate cheaters," Aqua said simply. "I suppose I could even the playing field." She started chanting words in some other language. Light magic went from her hand, to Herbie. When the race started, both cars shot off at high speed thanks to the magic they were getting.

The final stretch came up, and both cars were even. Tripp suddenly pulled ahead, and Herbie was about to run into the guard rail. Against all odds, the little bug started grinding the rail like a skateboard, pulled ahead of Murphy, and crossed the finish line. Aqua looked surprised. "I did not do that," she said.

Tripp Murphy slammed the door to his car, and a camera tried to get a shot of him. He slammed the camera away, and punched out the guy who had been holding it.

Meanwhile, the bug had started to drive off to an empty area. The paparazzi that had shown up to get coverage of Tripp Murphy was going to follow and try to get some footage of the challenger that had beat Murphy, before running off after Lindsey Lohan, who had mysteriously shown up at the car show out of nowhere.

Aqua snickered. "I love illusion magic," she said, before snapping her fingers, and the illusion vanished. She headed over to the parking lot, where Herbie had parked, and a guy and girl were arguing.

"Is there something I can help with?" Aqua offered.

The girl huffed. "No, just as soon as Kevin realizes that I would never go out racing again."

"Okay, Maggie, for the last time, what happened then? The bug went driving all on its own? I'm sorry, Herbie went driving on his own."

Ven tapped the bug on the hood while Maggie and Kevin argued. He looked down, and jumped back. "Th-that car just winked at me!" he stuttered, pointing at Herbie.

"Ven, it's a car. Cars do not wink," Terra said. "At least not in this world," he added under his breath. So he was quite surprised when the door to the bug flew open and hit him. He looked at the car and shook his head. He turned to Aqua. "I think you're right. If the apprentice is here, then we should stick around. We need to know what he's planning."

---

That night, in a motel, Tripp Murphy was going over the video of the race. "How did that happen? I couldn't have lost to a girl, much less a bug." He stopped the tape, and looked at the girl who had beaten him. She looked almost scared at the starting line. "That bug is not normal."

"I'll say," said the apprentice from behind him. Murphy turned to look at him. "That beetle is not normal at all. You know, from what I hear, that girl's family is in the racing business, and they have a place in the Nextel Cup. If she could beat you in a bug, then . . ." He shrugged innocently.

"Who the heck are you? How'd you get in here?" Murphy said, waving him away. He had more important things to worry about than some kid.

The apprentice shrugged. "I might be able to help you. But if you're sure you can win by yourself, then you really don't need me, do you?" He turned around, and started to leave.

Murphy looked at the video again. "Stop." The apprentice stopped as he was opening the door. "What did you have in mind?"

"Oh, I was hoping you'd ask me that," the apprentice said, a sly smile forming under his helmet.

---

The newspaper hit the table. Mr. Peyton, Maggie's father, had his eyes narrowed. His teeth were gritted tightly. "No, absolutely not."

"But dad--"

"No! You are not going to race again! I can't believe that you actually disobeyed me and did that race yesterday!" Mr. Peyton looked at Aqua, who had volunteered to go with Maggie for moral support. "Who's she? Some punk chick from some big city?" Aqua raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond, as she had heard plenty of stuff over the years about her unnatural hair color.

"That doesn't matter, dad," Maggie said. "What matters is that I beat Tripp Murphy in a '63 Bug! Why can't I take Ray's place in the Nextel Cup?" Ray, as Aqua later found out, was Maggie's brother, who had been injured in very bad timing for the Nextel Cup, which was coming up in just a few days.

"That's enough, Maggie. You're not racing, and that's final," Mr. Peyton said quietly, before snatching up his newspaper and storming from the room.

Aqua let out a low whistle. "What's his deal?"

"I got into a car crash a few years ago in a street race," Maggie explained. "Totaled the car, and ever since he hasn't let me race."

"That stinks," Aqua responded. "But, he's a dad. Personally, I don't have any fond memories of my dad."

"How bad could he possibly be?" Maggie asked skeptically.

Aqua sighed, before she unbuttoned the bottom edge of her sleeve. She folded it back to reveal a series of scars along her wrist. "He did that to me," she said quietly. Maggie gasped at the sight of it. Aqua recovered her wrist. "Now, if I could get through that, then maybe you can try a little bit harder at getting into the Nextel Cup."

Maggie turned to the window, and looked out where Herbie was parked in the driveway. "Sorry, Aqua. But my dad, he won't let me do it. I think it's because I look like my mom. She died, in a racing accident."

Now it was Aqua's turn to gasp. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. I was really young, I barely remember her. But, yeah, I look like her, and my dad doesn't want to lose her twice." Maggie looked over her shoulder at Aqua. "You know any way to make sure that I couldn't possibly get into any danger in that race?" Aqua shook her head, even though there was indeed a way to do so with magic, but she had to remember that nobody in this world knew anything about magic.

"I know a way," said a man slightly older than Maggie, who had slipped into the room without either of them noticing. "Name's Ray," he said to Aqua. "As I said, I know a way you can race without getting hurt. Get in first by a ton, and stay there. Now c'mon, you have a race that you need to get ready for." Maggie squealed, and hugged her brother in happiness.

Maggie Peyton

The youngest member of Team Peyton, and the owner of Herbie, a living car. She's a good racer, but got into a huge accident a few years back in a stree race, and hasn't raced since. Originally, her brother was going to be in the Nextel Cup, but it was found that due to a health problem, he couldn't race. Now, thanks to her brother, Maggie's headed into the Nextel Cup to face off against Tripp Murphy. She first appeared in _Herbie: Fully Loaded_.

Kevin

One of Maggie's oldest friend, and a mechanic. He owns his own garage, but since he doesn't have a lot of money, it's not very big. He first appeared in _Herbie: Fully Loaded_.

Tripp Murphy

The big-shot of the racing world, and known for his 'big cheese' attitude. He's a jerk, and will do anything to win, including working with the apprentice. He first appeared in _Herbie: Fully Loaded_.

Herbie

A living '63 Volkswagon Bug with a sense of humor, and the capability to make people seem completely insane when they claim that he's alive. He'll only be the car for the person who he really feels it right, with very few exceptions. Maggie wasn't his first owner, but his original owner is unknown. Herbie first rolled onto the screen in _The Love Bug_(2).


	36. The Love Bug

Gold sparks of magic ran along Aqua's fingertips. She waved them through the air, and gold dust sprayed down on Herbie. He--for it had been revealed to Aqua and Terra a few hours previously that Herbie was indeed alive, in the most comedic manner--shook the dust off. With it came all of the dirt and mud.

"I'm never going to know how you did that," Maggie said, walking in. Aqua stepped back slightly. "Hey, don't worry. My car is alive, I can deal with a teenager who can do magic."

"Really?" Aqua asked disbelievingly. She glanced at Herbie. "Well, I guess I can tell you that I'm not the only person who can do magic. There's of course my friends who can do a bit of magic. But then there's this other guy. A bad guy, I guess you could say. And if I'm right, he's giving Tripp Murphy's car a massive magical tune-up right now. I could . . ." She held up her hand, and blue sparks traced along her fingertips.

To her surprise, Maggie shook her head. "If you're not sure, then I don't want to end up winning because I had an unfair advantage. If it does turn out that Murphy's racecar was messed with, then you can do it, 'kay? And you might want to stop that, because the team's coming in in a few minutes to load up Herbie." Aqua lowered her hand, and the magic stopped.

Just like Maggie said, the door to Kevin's car garage opened up, and a trailer backed up a bit. Herbie drove into the back of it, winked his headlight, and the trailer closed up and drove off to the track.

Maggie suddenly groaned. "Oh, great, I don't have a racing outfit I can wear! I can't believe I forgot it!" She went over to a tool cabinet, and pulled out an old black leather racing suit. She unfolded it, and examined it. "Too big, and too disgusting." She wrinkled her nose at the smell that resembled rotten baloney. "You know any magic that could fix this thing?" she asked sarcastically.

"Actually, I think I do," Aqua answered to Maggie's surprise. "Just put it on, and I'll take care of the rest."

While not eager to put on the old suit, Maggie pulled it on anyways over her t-shirt and jeans. "Okay, now what?"

"Just this," Aqua said, and she summoned her keyblade. Maggie raised an eyebrow at the shape of the blade. Aqua held it in the air, and magic flew from the tip, and splashed onto Maggie's outfit. The dirt fell from it, and the new car smell came from it in place of the baloney. The size was perfected. The black turned to white. Along the sleeves and sides of the pants was a gold stripe. On the right shoulder was the number "53" like what Herbie had on his hood. Aqua spun her keyblade around her head, and sent a blast of magic behind her, aimed at a helmet sitting on a crate. She hadn't been counting on Terra walking in at that moment, and the magic turned his pants rainbow colored. He sighed. It had happened enough times before.

"Whoops, sorry, Terra," Aqua apologized, and hit him with another burst of magic. His pants turned back to tan. He got out of the way as Aqua blasted the helmet, which turned white. Terra tossed the helmet to Aqua, and the latter dismissed her keyblade and gave the helmet to Maggie.

"That was actually pretty cool," Maggie said, tucking the helmet under her arm. "Where'd you guys say you were from?" she asked curiously.

"New York," Aqua said quickly.

"Seattle," Terra covered.

"Miami," Ven stated.

All three of them said this at the same time. Aqua turned her head to the ceiling. Terra sighed. And Ven just avoided anybody's gaze. Maggie shook her head. "On second thought, I'm not sure I want to know. Where you guys are from, or why you say 'what in the worlds' instead of 'what in the world,' or why you guys swear on something called 'Kingdom Hearts.' Isn't that the name of some videogame?"

"I haven't the faintest idea what you're talking about," Aqua said, referring to the last part. "So, c'mon, you've got a race to win!"

---

At the racetrack, cars were pushed out by all the crews. However, Herbie was the only racecar there with a soft top. The announcers made that clear early on.

One thing that Ven liked about the racetrack, they were fast, unlike some of these places where it was all "Slow and steady wins the race." He liked things to get really, really fast. Which was why he was happy. That, and the fact that Aqua--albeit reluctantly--had used her magic to paint his face with red and white face paint. He had wanted to do a "53" on his chest, but he had decided that he didn't need to look like a frat boy. That, and he was pretty sure that he had a farmer tan.

Back to the speed of the race, they already had all of the cars lined up along the starting line. Tripp Murphy's car, instead of the Cheetos Ad on wheels it had been before, now had a base color of black. Along each side was a violet stripe with the words "The Other Side" done in bloody red. Tripp looked over at Maggie, who was in Herbie right next to him. "Like the paint job? I got a new sponsor. Only the best for Tripp Murphy."

Maggie wasn't fazed. "Oh, that's too bad. I thought it fit. Cheetos for the Big Cheese himself," she said with her voice dripping in mock-sweetness.

Tripp gritted his teeth. "You're going down, bug!"

The red-head tore her gaze away from him and just focused on the track. She breathed heavily, and could hear her heart beating faster and faster. The starting horn blared loudly, and the cars shot off at high speed.

Maybe not quite like that. Tripp Murphy went off at high speed, the other cars were barely keeping up, and Herbie was lumbering along, not able to get the kind of acceleration that the big racecars had. "Come on!" Herbie's engine revved, and he got a bit more speed, just enough to catch up to one of the last racers. Herbie hooked his front bumper over the other car's rear bumper. When Maggie was ready, she turned the steering wheel hard! Herbie launched off the back of the car like a slingshot, and quickly moved up through the pack.

At the sight of this amazing maneuver, a good half of the crowd cheered, along with all of Herbie's pit crew. Which, of course, included Terra, Ven, and Aqua.

A low whistle was let out from behind them. "That was truly amazing. But, nothing that can compare to my tune-up job." Aqua was the first to realize who it was. She turned around to face the apprentice.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him. "Why does it matter to you if Tripp Murphy wins the Nextel Cup?"

"Aqua, really, who do you think I am, Master Xehanort? I'm not going to tell you my plans, that would be stupid," he said.

"At least he didn't say dim again," Ven whispered to Terra. The latter nodded in agreement.

"Well," Aqua said, "we do know a part of your plan. I think. It has something to do with the Heartstone, right?"

The apprentice seemed genuinely surprised. "As a matter of fact, yes. I really have to learn to not underestimate the three of you. After all, it was what caused the downfall of my master in the first place."

Aqua sighed. From behind them, Herbie honked. Aqua looked over her shoulder to see Maggie gesturing for her to come over. "If you don't mind, a friend is calling me," Aqua said before she turned on her heels and went to see what Maggie wanted.

Turned out that she wanted Aqua to put that magic into Herbie, because how fast Tripp was going was unnatural. The mage pulled a charm from her pocket, and pressed it against the door while the tires were getting changed. Aqua muttered a few Latin words, and the charm dissolved, and her pre-prepared spell took effect. There wasn't any sort of huge change in Herbie like what had happened to Tripp's car. Instead, a gold stripe joined the red, white, and blue ones that stretched over his hood, roof, and rear.

No sooner than Aqua had stepped away did Herbie shoot off, much faster than before. Maggie steered him through the cars, and quickly caught up to Murphy. He looked over at her, and for a moment, Maggie saw a flash of something more than confidence in his eyes. Something more malevolent. It vanished as quickly as it had come. Tripp hit a button on his dashboard, and a shockwave went through the ground underneath Herbie. While Maggie got him back under control, Tripp got ahead again. "This means war," Maggie murmured.

It took another few laps for Maggie to catch up once again. By this point, they were in the last ten laps, and closing fast. Tripp focused his eyes forward, but hit a blue button on the dashboard. From nowhere, a blast of dark energy was fired through Herbie's window, narrowly missing Maggie's head. She noticed a button that hadn't been there before, and pressed it on a hunch. Herbie's right side window stretched out and angled itself above Tripp's car. Light reflected into his eyes, and Herbie pulled ahead a little bit. Though not much.

Tripp's eyes glanced down at the gear shift, where a red button winked at him, begging to be pushed. "Hm, 'Only use in emergencies,' huh? I think this counts as an emergency," he said to himself, and slammed the button down. Suddenly, his racecar went faster than he had ever gone before.

Maggie watched as the black car screamed down the racetrack. No more special buttons, nothing but her and Herbie. She remembered with a jolt her street race with Tripp a few days previously. When she had grabbed the shift lever, she had felt a connection with Herbie. She reached down and just held onto it. Herbie's parts went crazy, and he zoomed forward, somehow catching up to Tripp and passing him with a wave.

On the sideline, just as Maggie grabbed the lever, Aqua flinched. "There's no way," she murmured. She looked at Ven. "Can I see the Memory Shard?" He pulled the blue crystal from his pocket and stuffed it into her hand, his eyes glued to the race. Aqua felt the magical aura coming off of the crystal, and looked up at Herbie, who was getting closer and closer to the finish line with each millisecond. She smiled. "Of course."

The crowd roared in triumph. Herbie crossed the finish line far ahead of any other racer. He slowed down slightly, and drove off the track and spun around in the grass. Maggie opened the door and looked out to the crowd, a wide grin on her face.

Oh yeah, Tripp Murphy. He scrambled out of the car and stomped over to Herbie. "That car, that car is alive! I'm telling you, that car is alive!" A couple of guys from his pit crew came over and pulled him away so he could get some rest. Herbie's front bumper curled down like a smile, and he made a ridiculous face at Tripp. "He's mocking me, you see that! You see that!"

Much later, after Maggie--and Herbie--had been given their trophy and posed for many photos, they headed straight back to Kevin's garage.

Maggie dropped her helmet onto the seat. "I can't believe we actually won." She looked over at Aqua. "Thank you, and your friends, so much. We wouldn't have done it without you."

"Actually," Aqua said, and walked around the back of the bug, "while I did do that first speed burst, and the bit with the mirror, that last thing was all you. And Herbie, of course. There's something about this guy that I like." At this point, she was a few feet behind the muffler. There was a sudden grating of Herbie's engine, and something burst from his tailpipe.

Aqua caught it out of the air and examined it. Her face brightened. "Another shard of the Heartstone!" As the gold-yellow crystal shone brightly, Aqua could feel the day's exhaustion falling away from her. "Life. This is the Life Shard. Though I wonder how Herbie got a hold of it, in his engine no less."

"Maybe the person who Master Shari originally gave it to stowed it away in Herbie, for safekeeping," Ven speculated. "Then, Herbie slowly absorbed the magic it gave off, causing him to come to life."

Maggie looked alarmed. "Wait, I don't know what you're talking about, but if that crystal is what makes Herbie come to life, then put it back in him."

"No, it made him come to life," Ven explained. "But by this point, the only way he could 'die' so-to-speak is if you crashed him really badly. That crystal has to have been in there for a few decades, at least. He'll be safe to race and do comedic mocking of people for a long time to come."

Maggie relaxed at his words. She put a hand on Herbie's hood, and he winked at her as though to say "I'll be fine." Maggie smiled at this. She looked back up at the trio. "So is this goodbye?"

"Yep. Sorry, got places to go, people to see," Aqua said. She pocketed the crystal. "It was nice meeting you, Maggie, and you too, Herbie. Who knows, maybe we could see each other again someday." As Aqua said the last sentence, she crossed her fingers behind her back. Yeah, like that would ever happen.

The Life Shard

A shard of the Hearstone. It deals with the part of the heart that holds the soul, the life-giving part of a person. If the person holding it is in great danger of losing their life due to injury or otherwise, it can heal them. There might be other abilities to it, that remain unknown. It also holds an extremely large amount of magical energy, and it could be bad for it to fall into the hands of somebody with evil intent. It was placed in Herbie's engine to hide it, and the magic allowed Herbie to come to life.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Whee, Nextel Stadium's done. And that means that we're headed back to Ale's homeworld, Sunrise Beach! I thought it'd be interesting to say that we have caught up to where I started from. Yeah, I had just finished up this chapter when I decided to start posting it up on this site. 35 pre-written chapters. I didn't want to be one of those people who was something like a month in-between each update. Even if the story's good, I get annoyed when they put a cliffhanger in, and don't update in _forever_. Okay, I'm done rambling. Remember, reviews are always appreciated!


	37. Dancing Flames

Fire blasted out, destroying another five heartless. Ale sent his chakram flying, and it destroyed an air soldier before spinning back to him. He caught it expertly. "You guys never know when to quit, do you?" His chakrams were covered in flames, and he shot both off, eliminating the last of the heartless. "So that's thirty-two today. They're starting to back off."

"Or they're getting bored with you," said a voice that sounded like music to his ears. Ale turned around to his greatest friend (and possibly a bit more than that) Lyn. Her steel fans were closed and hooked into her belt. "Twenty-four, but I got a big one down in the sewers. So that's thirty-three points for me. I win."

"That, or you cheated to win, like you did the past three times," Ale accused. Lyn just rolled her eyes. Ale dismissed his chakrams, and checked his watch. "Hm. Noon already. C'mon, let's head back to my place for some lunch."

Ale had not actually grown up in this town. Instead, he came from another one, one further off, when he was fourteen, and lived on his own. It had been a big surprise for him when he had come back home finally, and his apartment was still his. Then again, he had helped out the landlady enough times that she owed him.

He grabbed a couple of sodas from the fridge and threw one to Lyn, who caught it perfectly. After an incident a few weeks earlier, he could no longer use the oven, so he had to depend on microwave meals and Chinese take-out, not that he had any problems with that.

A knock came at the door. Ale ignored it. It was probably just one of guys in another apartment telling him to not make so much noise at night. The knock came even harder. When another minute passed and the person on the other side of the door didn't get a response, the hardest slam yet came accompanied by a voice. "Axel! Open up the door! I know you're in there!"

Ale let out a slow breath. "Xion," he murmured. An idea came to him, and he signaled to Lyn to stay quiet as his right-hand chakram appeared. "Come in, door's open." The door swung open, and Ale charged forward, determined to take Xion by surprise. And to his surprise, she simply stepped out of the way, got inside the room, shut the door, and locked it behind her. Ale's voice came from behind the door. "Okay, you're good."

"I keep on telling you, I'll never fall for that," she said with a laugh. She noticed Lyn, who was looking somewhat bewildered. "Uh, hi, I'm Xion." Her eyes scanned over the room, taking in the dirt and filth. "Weird. I would have thought that Axel would be the sort of guy that would drop out of high school and live in an alley."

"I'm still out here!" Ale reminded them. "And is it necessary for you to call me Axel?"

"Why, does it bother you?" Xion asked innocently.

"Yeah, a little."

"Then yes, it's necessary." Ale sighed in defeat. Lyn laughed at this, and Xion turned her eyes to the brunette. "You are . . ."

"Lyn," she responded sweetly.

A wide smile spread across Xion's face. "No, way. You're Lyn? Pyro's girlfriend?"

The door handle shook extremely hard as Ale tried to get the door open, with little success. His hands pounded on the wood. "She's not my girlfriend!" The was a dull clunk as he slammed his head on the door repeatedly. "Of all times, why did she have to show up now?" he asked quietly.

For a moment, Xion wasn't sure that she wanted to tell him what she had intended to tell him, he was apparently having a bad day. Then again, she loved to torture the guy. "Oh, by the way, we're not the only ones."

"Excuse me?"

"I mean, that the apprentices are back. You know, the founding six?"

Another clunk as he hit the door. Again. "Great. I can only imagine what Vexen and Zexion think of me," he said. After all, he had killed Vexen personally, and caused Zexion's death.

"They're one of two ways. They're either like me, and a little bit scared of seeing the guy who killed them. Or, and this is more likely for Zexion than Vexen, they completely and utterly hate you," she said.

"Zexion hating me? That's no different than normal. Seven years in the Organization, and he hated me the whole time, and I hated him."

Lyn just listened to this conversation, trying to make sense of it. Sure. Ale had told her tons of stuff about the Organization and whatever, but it worried her that the rest of the Organization could be coming back from the dead. "This is insane," she said, collapsing onto the couch.

They were interrupted suddenly as somebody screamed from outside. Lyn jumped up, and both girls ran from the room. Ale followed them a minute later, after getting over being hit upside the head with the door.

Outside, Sora went as fast as he could, destroying unbirth after unbirth, with every skill he had in him. He threw the keyblade hard, which then returned like a boomerang. He was soon joined by Kairi, who was sporting a new outfit. It was nearly identical to her old one in design, but the base fabric was bright white, as were her shoes. Her belt was still black, and her locket remained.

"Like it?" Kairi asked as she fought. "I ran into Aqua on the way to the clothing shop, and she offered to make it with her magic. It was really nice of her, don't you think?"

Sora nodded, and blasted away a skimmer with a Firaga spell. "Speaking of which, where are they? I mean, I would think that they'd do anything to get in on a fight like this." Kairi shrugged, as Aqua had run off somewhere after making her new outfit.

The trio in question was sitting on top of a building, scarfing down sea-salt ice creams. Some might wonder how the exact same flavor of ice cream could be found on so many different worlds, but those people didn't know about the Warders, the group of keybearers that Terra, Ven, and Aqua had been a part of. While yes, they were supposed to keep the worlds from mingling, you didn't get in trouble for introducing things like ice cream to other worlds, as long as you didn't try to get rich off of it.

"Man, I forgot how much I loved this stuff," Aqua said as she wiped a bit of ice cream off on her sleeve. "It's delicious."

"Hear, hear," Terra said in agreement. "Except I never forgot how good it was. But still, you have to wonder if it's possible to get a winner." He examined the stick, and tossed it onto the roof behind him.

They watched Sora and his friends fight the unbirths down in the street. Sora's clothes turned bright blue, his keyblade changed to the Winner's Proof, and he started using only magic, to very good effect. All sorts of spells came from his keyblade, from Blizzaga to Magnega.

"You know, when his clothes turn blue like that, he fights a little bit like you do, Aqua," Ven noted.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Aqua responded, instantly taking it as an insult.

"I mean, that he does all sorts of gymnastics, flipping around, sliding over the ground, using a lot of magic. That's what you do when you fight," Ven said. "You know, he's actually not that bad of a fighter. You guys both take fighting as just that, seeing how many times you can whack something with a sword or blast it with a magic spell." Terra and Aqua were about to argue, but Ven held up a hand. "Seriously. Sora doesn't fight like you guys do. Even like that, he doesn't fight exactly like you. He switches it up. How he fights, it looks unpredictable, but there is a pattern to it. He fights from instinct, like I do. Aqua, you fight with your head, Terra, with your muscles. There's nothing wrong with that, but you just think that because it's different, it's not as good. That's not true. And I for one, realize that." Without waiting for a response from his friends, Ven tossed his popsicle stick behind him, summoned his keyblade, and jumped into fighting.

Even after Sora had gone completely nuts with Wisdom Form, the unbirths were still coming strong. He was already able to do another form if he wanted to, but what could help him besides Final Form, and even that was a bit iffy. When he did Final Form without the help of two friends, it wasn't nearly as strong. He spotted Ale out of the corner of his eye, and remembered the form he had done with Kairi. If it worked once . . .

With no other ideas, Sora placed a hand on Ale's shoulder, and closed his eyes. "Assassin!" Ale vanished, and Sora's clothes turned burning scarlet. The shape of Ale's chakrams appeared on each sleeve, and flames chased their way up the sides of his pants. In place of his Kingdom Key, the Bond of Flame appeared.

_Well, this is new_, Ale said through the mental link. _But, what do I know? Let's go!_

"Let's see what we can do," Sora said. Energy burned through his limbs. Flames flickered over his keyblade. He sliced through unbirths easily. An idea came to him, and he grabbed the part of keyblade in the center of the teeth. The two halves snapped apart, and changed into Ale's chakrams. Despite having always used swords, the knowledge of how to wield the chakrams came easily. He destroyed unbirths with ease.

Twenty yards away, Kairi and Lyn were working together on a Leo. At least, until it batted Lyn away with a swipe of its paw, invoking a rage in Sora, that had to come from Ale.

_Get away from her, bastard!_ The blue in Sora's eyes mingled with the green of Ale's. Sora went after the Leo, before it could get to Kairi.

Flames surrounded the chakrams. "Burn, baby!" he shouted as he dove at the high-tier unbirth. It screeched in pain before vanishing. The Bond of Flames reformed from the chakrams.

"Very good, Sora." The rest of the unbirths suddenly vanished. From the darkness of an alley came Master Xehanort's apprentice. "Those fairies do well in their work. But let's see how well you can harness the powers that come with your forms." The apprentice jumped at one wall, bounced off it, and went on top of a roof. He ran off, at top speed.

Acting on pure instinct, Sora stuck the handle of his keyblade in his teeth, and climbed up the brick wall much more quickly than he ever could have naturally. Once on the roof, he grabbed his keyblade and ran after the apprentice. He jumped over buildings, coming closer and closer to the apprentice with each step. Sora was just about to get him upside the head, right after a jump, when the drive ended in mid-leap. Sora dropped straight down, while the momentum carried Ale right into the wall of the opposite building.

"Is it Hurt Ale Day?" he complained.

A blur flew by them. Ven stopped just long enough to say "He's at the beach!" before taking off again. While he had been stopped, Ale had gotten a good look at his face.

"Am I missing something? Cause he looks just like--"

"Roxas, I know," Sora said. "I don't know why either."

Lyn

Ale's absolute best friend in all of the worlds, and while he won't admit it, they're totally in love. She isn't a bad fighter, and uses her fans in the same manner as Ale uses his chakrams. She helps Ale out with fighting heartless that appear in Sunrise Beach, and usually beats him in the amount of heartless she defeats.

Assassin Form

Sora's drive form with Ale. It's all about taking down enemies quickly and efficiently. Sora uses the Bond of Flame keyblade in this form, which he can separate into chakrams. He can weild them expertly thanks to Ale's instincts. Sora's also able to use fire-based abilities in this form that would normally exhaust him very quickly. He had much more agility in this form, able to climb walls as fast as he can run, and jump from building to building.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Take that, yaoi fangirls! I made Ale--as in, Axel--a girlfriend! I took that scene at the beginning from Final Fantasy: Advent Children. I had written this chapter shortly after watching the movie. That was a long time ago . . . Right! Yeah! I'll stop now!

Hey, I wanted to say that I wrote a oneshot going a bit more into Ale and Lyn's relationship. I was bored, and whatever. So tell you what. I know that people are reading this. So when I get two reviews--two, itty-bitty reviews--I'll put it up. I'm talking even something like "Cool story, update soon!" I apologize, but I've gotten almost no reviews.


	38. TwoFaced

Like Ven said, the apprentice stood at the edge of the surf, water lapping at his shoes. He had his keyblade out. He looked out over the blue sea. "Ah, the ocean. So many reminders. So many memories." He sighed.

_A boy sat on a bridge, just a feet from the ocean. It wasn't a very big ocean, to be sure. Technically, it was only a very big lake. But most people called it an ocean anyways. The boy looked up at his father with a wide grin on his face._

_"Hey Dad," he said._

_"Yeah?" the dad responded._

_"Why can we see our reflection in the tide pools, but not in the ocean? It's the same water, after all."_

_His dad thought for a moment. "Because the tide pools have something special to them. There's magic there."_

_"So there's no magic in the ocean?" the boy asked._

_"No, but it's different. The magic of the tide pools is calm, and shows how we look on the outside. But the magic in the ocean in always moving, and that reflects our hearts. They change, and never stand still."_

_The boy thought about this as he looked up at the sky. The stars winked at him. "How far away are the stars?"_

_"As far as you can imagine. They go as far as our love can reach. Love for our family, our friends, and maybe even a little bit more." He ribbed his son with his elbow. "Huh? Huh? Huh? Y'know what I'm talking about?"_

_The son's face turned bright red. "Dad, I'm only eight!"_

_His father laughed. "Yeah, I forget sometimes. You talk like some of those kids I have in my class up at the Jr. High." He checked his watch. "It's getting late. We should probably be heading back home. Maybe we could pick up some ice cream on the way," he suggested. No sooner had he said this than his son had jumped up, excited for a sweet treat._

_Father and son walked along the road, eating their ice creams. They both had mint chocolate-chip, but only because they were out of sea-salt ice cream. The boy ate the last bit of his cone, and licked the bits of melted ice cream off his fingers. "Thanks for taking me to the ocean, dad."_

_"You know I would do anything for you, my boy," the man said. "You're all I have left, after all. After your mother went off with that dentist, I knew that one moment you could have something, and the next, it's gone. And one day you'll learn that, too. But until then, it's going to be you, me, and our Sunday-Night Ice Cream!" Fate is a cruel thing._

_Faster than you could blink, a group of five teenage boys stepped from the alley and surrounded the two of them. One of them wasn't a teenager. He looked closer to twenty-five or so. He looked to be in charge. "Hey, how's it goin'?" he said, his voice casual._

_"What are you doing here?" the father asked cautiously._

_"I'm looking for my pay. Nobody crosses Dick Jones," he said threateningly._

_The father looked at his son. "Run when I tell you to," he whispered. "And remember, I have always cared for you, no matter what happens." He stood up, and pulled something from his pocket. He threw it to the ground, and a small explosion went off at Dick's feet. "RUN!"_

_The boy ran as his father said, between two of the guys, and kept on running down the street. Down where his father had been, he heard gunshot, and a cry of pain. The boy turned around and saw Dick and his buddies speed out of the alley on motorcycles. Laying on the ground, even from here, the boy could see blood pouring from his father's body._

_"Dad," he said, suddenly feeling faint. "Dad." Everything went black._

The apprentice was snapped out his flashback by Sora and his friends coming onto the beach. Sora had his keyblade out, ready to fight. "Give me your best shot, apprentice!"

"I have a name, you know," he reminded Sora. "Yes, my soul was bound to Master Xehanort's, wiping out my identity, but I regained it after his demise." He pointed his keyblade at Sora. "I am Thadex! Bane of the Light, and the Seeker of Darkness!"

"Sort of like Ansem, Seeker of Darkness," Sora pointed out.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Thadex said, rolling his eyes under the helmet. "You shall fall to my keyblade, the Dark Scar!"

"Your overconfidence is your weakness," Sora said.

"Your faith in your friends is yours," Thadex responded.

"Faith in yo mamma," Sora said under his breath.

"What was that?" Thadex said, not sure he had heard the keyblade master right.

He heard him right. "I said, yo mamma's so fat, when she wants to go on a trip, she just has to turn around!"

"Yo mamma's so short, she can sit on the curb and swing her legs," Thadex shot back without a moment's hesitation.

"Oh, it's a yo mamma fight!" Ale said, clearly happy to get some real fighting done, in his opinion.

"Yo mamma's so dumb," Sora said, "she got locked in a grocery store and starved!"

"Oh yeah, well yo mamma's so ugly, when she walked down the street people said 'Is it Halloween already?'" Not bad, not bad at all.

Sora was already ready for that. He wasn't Destiny Islands King of Insults three years running for nothing. "Yo mamma's breath is so bad, when she yawns her teeth duck!"

"Eh, yo mamma's not so bad," Thadex said, to great surprise. "She would give you the hair off of her back!" A cry of dismay went up from Sora's friends.

He held up a hand, to show it wasn't over yet. "Yo mamma's hair is green and thinks she's a tree!" Jessie and Xion both had to work together to prevent Oro from killing Sora for mentioning green hair as an insult.

Thadex's turn again. He was running out of material. "Uh, well, yo mamma's so poor, your family eats cereal with a fork to save milk!" No response. "Because, you know, the milk will just drip through, and you save it better . . ." Too late.

"Yo mamma's so fat, Pete saw her and said 'daaaaaaang," Sora sent at him.

Meanwhile, far away, Pete got the funny feeling that he was being insulted, in some way or another.

Time for the last one, the one that was sure to get Thadex really ticked off. "Yo mamma's so stupid, she makes you look like a genius!"

Ven, acting like a normal teenager, went "Ohhhhh, you got pwn'd!"

This was too much for Thadex. He had come here, with the intention of at least getting a blow on Sora, and got insulted for his work. He created a barrier, so that he could fight the keyblade master one-on-one. A blast of dark fire came from his keyblade, which Sora quickly deflected. Continual attacks came from Thadex, which Sora had to work hard to avoid or guard against them all. "Reflega!" A shield went up for a moment, and exploded when it was hit. Thadex abandoned his magic, and went for the straight sword attacks.

There was no way of sugar-coating it. Sora never stood a chance against Thadex. His attacks came to quickly for him to block a single one, and Sora was sent all over the place by the dark keybearer. "You shall learn your place," Thadex said, and his keyblade swam with dark energy. He hit Sora, hard! The keyblade master was sent flying, and luckily landed in a sand dune. Thadex looked over to Kairi, who had somehow gotten through the barrier and was running to Sora, determined to help him. "Idiot princess. No different from any other." He raised his keyblade in the air. "Dark Thundaga!"

Sora's head was spinning, but he was aware enough to realize that the dark lightning bolt would hit Kairi directly. He jumped up, ignoring the pain in his side from where Thadex had hit him, and pushed Kairi aside. Good news, Kairi didn't get hurt. Bad news, Sora took the full brunt of the Dark Thundaga spell. He was on the verge of unconsciousness. Images swam in his brain.

Thadex dismissed his keyblade, and spoke to Sora mockingly. "How does that feel, Sora. To have all that pain, swimming through you. You thought you were invincible, as all heroes do. You have won your battles. But I tell you, right now, that you are not such a great hero. Imagine what the little children of the Radiant Garden Orphanage would think of you, seeing you sitting on the ground like this."

"What are you talking about?" Sora said, still gasping for breath.

"Didn't you know?" Thadex asked innocently. "That girl, Rinoa, created a real orphanage, and many people in the town tell of your adventures. The children practically worship at your feet." He spoke the next few sentences in almost a whisper. "The people love a hero, Sora. But what they love more than to see a hero, is to see a hero fall to the bad guys. It's happened too many times to count. Think about what I have said." He opened a Corridor of Darkness. "I will spare you for today. But do not expect me to be so forgiving the next time we fight. Adieu, and goodbye to you all!"(1)

The moment the portal faded, the barrier fell. Kairi immediately went to Sora. She put a hand on his shoulder. "Please, Sora. Don't listen to him." She wrapped her arms around him. Tears fell from her eyes, and she glowed with light. It went from her, to Sora. His many injuries healed, but there would still be plenty of bruising, and her light spell wouldn't restore his energy. So naturally, Sora blacked out from exhaustion.

Thadex

The apprentice of Master Xehanort. He is a horrible, evil, and you can't trust him. However, that isn't necessarily all his fault. His father was killed when Thadex was just a little kid, and his experience with being overshadowed by Master Xehanort hasn't helped him at all. He weilds the keyblade _Dark Scar_. He is planning something big right now. He is an amazing fighter, skilled in swordsmanship and magic. He's also one of the best insulters of all of the keyblade warriors.

Dark Scar

Thadex's keyblade. The teeth resembles the teeth of a gear, and an eye is placed in the hilt. It enchances his dark abilities, and was created by Master Xehanort. However, a shortcoming is, well, just that, it's quite short. Despite the fact that his keyblade has a keychain, he is still technically a keyblade apprentice, even though his master is gone.

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Inspired by the Green Goblin's speech in _Spiderman_.

That yo-mamma fight was borrowed from something called _Robot Chicken_. I just know that it was done in a Kingdom Hearts video, and it was hilarious. I luved it.

Now, we finally know a little bit more about Master Xehanort's Apprentice, A.K.A. Thadex. The reason for the chapter name is a bit confusing. Two-faced, as is he has two different people in him. There's the part that never comes out, the teenager who doesn't know what the hell's going on, and then there's what we see, the horrible bastard. Two-faced, get it?

As for Rinoa's orphanage, I got the idea for that from how most of the main characters of Final Fantasy VIII (Squall, Quistus, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, and Seifer) all grew up in an orphanage together. Rinoa was the only exception for that, but I still thought it would be cool to have her open up an orphanage like that.

Remember, my offer is still up for grabs. Three reviews, and I'll post the oneshot of Ale and Lyn's relationship.


	39. Ven's Memory

Very quietly, Aqua shut the door to her bedroom, and took her place on her bed. Terra and Ven were both sitting in chairs. "Sora's asleep, but he'll live. I just don't think he'll be able to fight for a while. Then again, you never know with him," she said. "I'm amazed that he came out of that duel with his arms and legs intact. There's only a few broken ribs."

"Can't forget that light thing that Kairi did," Terra pointed out. "Didn't you use something like that to heal me when I, uh . . ."

"Got your butt kicked by Thadex?" Ven supplied. Terra had almost beaten him, but Thadex had pulled out a dark spell and knocked Terra unconscious, to be found later by Aqua.

"Actually," Aqua said, a trace of nervousness in her voice, "it was identical to what I used. Same magical trail and everything. And that was a light spell, only possible to be used by a Princess of Heart."

"But I thought her heart was just incredibly pure," Ven said. "I mean, that was the whole reason for the Battle of the Princesses, right? Everybody thought that Kairi was the seventh Princess of Heart, and we caused a ton of damage fighting to keep her away from Xehanort. Then he tried to open the Door to Darkness, and it didn't work."

"Right," Aqua said, "but look at this." She held out her hand, and said, "Lightra!" A small orb of light appeared, and floated just above her palm. "I can still do the spell, but it takes a ton of concentration. And as soon as I lose even a bit of my concentration--" The orb flickered out. "And I can't even do some of the things I've seen Kairi do with the light spells. That healing spell, for one. I can still do some pretty nifty things with the different Cure spells, but light's always better for healing."

"But that still leaves the question of how Kairi is a Princess of Heart, and you aren't," Terra said.

"I actually have a theory on that. My heart shattered when I saw both of you guys vanish, and I was sure you were dead. I think that when my heart broke, my light, the special light in all Princesses of Heart, went to a whole heart. The purest heart in all of the universe, minus the other Princesses. So, Kairi became a true Princess of Heart, and I'm normal, at least somewhat. I've still got all of my magic, that was just natural, not part of the Princess deal. But, I am no longer a Princess," Aqua finished(1).

From his pocket, Ven pulled the Memory Shard of the Heartstone. "Sorry to change the subject, but what about this thing? We still don't know much about the Heartstone. I've tried to use the shard I have to talk to some of the past keyblade masters, but the most I get is a weird feeling in my stomach." He turned it over in his hand. "Although, the enchantress said that the keyblade master thing was only one of the powers." He closed his eyes, and fixed an image in his mind's eye. The blue crystal glowed brightly.

The room on the gummi ship vanished. The scent of salty seawater blew past on a breeze, and a seagull called out overhead. Sand shifted below their feet.

_A boy ran through the ocean, water splashing around his feet. "I'm gonna beat you guys!" he said to the boys running behind him. They weren't his friends, that much was sure. One of them grabbed a shell from the ocean floor and threw it at the boy's head. He became dazed, and the other boys ran past him, laughing at him._

_"All right, children," said the woman standing on the beach. She was wearing a long dress, really not made for the ocean. "Time to go back to the home." The boy sadly went over to the woman who ran the orphanage. He looked in a tide pool, where crabs scuttled around in the water. Looking back at him, he saw a boy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. He sighed. "Ventus! Could you come over here, please?" He ran to the woman._

_"Yes, ma'am?" he said. At that moment, he noticed a man standing next to her. His face was serious, but his eyes were kind. He couldn't be any older than twenty-five._

_"This man would like to speak to you for a moment."_

_He gestured for the young boy to follow him. Both of them sat down on the dock. "You are Ventus, correct?" He nodded. "I saw you over there, playing in the ocean, and saw something in you. If I may be so blunt, I would like to invite you to come to this school of sorts."_

_Ventus looked up at the town where he lived. "Would I leave the orphanage to go to that school?" The man nodded slowly. He jumped up. "Yes! Finally, I get to get away from those fartknockers!" A small laugh escaped from the man at Ventus's choice of word. "When do I go?"_

_He checked his watch. "As soon as possible. Let us get your things, and we can leave." Ventus let out a whoop of joy, and ran as fast as he could back to the orphanage, happy that he would finally get away._

The memory dissolved into a mist. Ven replaced the Memory Shard in his pocket. "Well, there's one power that we've figured out."

---

Sora slowly opened his eyes, but knew that he wasn't awake yet. Surrounding his platform in the Station of Calling was the dark void, as always. And leaning against some invisible wall was Roxas, likely fresh from another session of trying to get in contact with Naminé.

"Forget it. I'll try again tomorrow," he said, still not noticing Sora standing at the other end of the platform. He looked up, and finally saw him. "Dude, you look horrible." He snapped his fingers, and the light bent in front of Sora. He looked at his reflection, and he did look horrible. His hair was singed, and it looked like part of his eyebrows had been burned off. There was at least three bruises on his neck and upper chest. Roxas waved the mirror out of existence. "Course, I'm sort of surprised that you survived at all, the way that guy fought."

"Can we stop talking about that? I know I'm going to be sore when I wake up," Sora said. "What am I even here for this time? First time was to fight you, second time was right after the fight with Xemnas and to take a look at your platform, now what?"

Roxas held up a finger. "I gotta show you something." He summoned the Kingdom Key. "Okay, so I was getting bored a few nights ago, since when you aren't awake or dreaming, I'm just sitting here, so I figured this out." He held the keyblade out, and a beam of light shot from the tip, and a portal appeared. He gestured for Sora to follow him.

When they emerged from the other end, Sora was surprised to find himself back in his own room on the gummi. He turned around, and got a horrible shock when he saw himself still laying on the bed. "What? Huh? I'm here, but I'm there?"

Roxas laughed. "Yeah, I got that sort of reaction too. From what I can figure, that portal took us from your mind to the physical world. Nobody can see us, but we can see them. And best of all . . ." He walked over to the door, and stuck his head through. "I'm the headless nobody!"

"I don't remember ever reading the Legend of Sleepy Hollow," Sora recalled.

Roxas pulled his head back in. "Don't you remember? The Horror Movie Marathon?" Unfortunately, Sora did remember. He was eleven when his mom had gone away to visit some friend of hers on another island, and left him home alone. Riku, Tidus, and Wakka had come over and they had watched a ton of movies. Sora had nightmares for a month.

"Can we forget about that? I want to spy on somebody. What's the use of being a ghost if you don't spy on somebody?"

"It's three in the morning," Roxas pointed out. "That trio--the Ven guy creeps me out--is talking about something called a 'Heartstone' and everybody else is asleep."

Sora snapped his fingers. "Maybe we can go in somebody else's dreams," he said. "Think of the possibilities."

Roxas was past thinking, and heading straight to Kairi's room. "Naminé here I come!" Sora followed very closely behind, right after wondering if spying on Kairi's dreams was the best way to win her over. Then again, what could she possibly be dreaming?

Sora and Roxas were both shocked out of their wits. They weren't dreaming that Kairi and Naminé were making out with them--or worse, somebody else--or something equally as bad. No, it was far worse. Three words could describe it. Hannah. Montana. Concert(2).

Girls squealed all over the place. And Hannah Montana sounded HORRIBLE! She absolutely could not sing in a large arena. Heck, she couldn't sing well in the shower! Sora went through the crowd, finally spotting a head of red hair. He got next to Kairi, and practically had to shout to get her to hear him.

"This is what you dream about? What is wrong with you?!"

Kairi looked at him, but she appeared to be in pain. "This isn't a dream, it's a nightmare! I hate Hannah Stinkin'-Montana! All Selphie did for the sleepover I had with her after we got back was play her Cds and sing along to it! Those songs are stupid!" There were likely other words Kairi could use to describe the songs, but she didn't like to speak that way. "And I can't get out of here, because I'm chained to the chair!"

Sora summoned his keyblade and cut through the chains, and pulled Kairi out of the throngs of nine-year olds. He kicked down the door to the hallway, and both of them found themselves on Kairi's platform in the Station of Peace.

Kairi blinked. "Hold on, Sora? You're really here? I mean, your mind is?" He nodded quickly, and prepared to get yelled at for invading her privacy. Kairi took a deep breath, and was probably trying to decide what to say to him. "Thank you. I hate that dream, but I don't ever think to use Oathkeeper. Dream logic." She shrugged.

Something rustled under Sora's foot. He looked down to see a drawing. If it was hidden in Kairi's mind, he could only imagine what it had. He grabbed it, and Kairi's eyes widened. "No! Give that back! Sora!" She grabbed for the paper, but Sora held her back with one hand while he checked out the picture.

"Is that Naminé and Roxas?" He laughed, until he realized something. Naminé was Kairi's nobody, and Roxas was his. If their nobodys liked each other--to a point--then that meant that . . .

"Uh, if you don't mind, I think I'm just going to go back to myself, Kairi," he said awkwardly. She nodded, a pink tinge to her cheeks. Sora summoned his keyblade, and opened a door out like Roxas had done, and got back to his own head as fast as possible, ready to sleep for over twenty-four hours. Which he did happily.

---

Quite a while after the incident in Kairi's dream, Sora finally woke up. Despite his long time of sleeping, he was still tired and sore.

"So where to next?" he asked to nobody in particular. He wasn't about to let exhaustion get the better of him. The world map was displayed on a screen, and one world jumped out at him. "Hey, what's the date today?"

Riku thought for a moment before replying "October 30th."

Sora pumped his fist. "Tomorrow's Halloween!"

"Aren't you a little bit old to be trick-or-treating?" Xion asked.

"No," Sora replied as he set the gummi ship to a particular spot, "but that's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Halloween Town! They have a huge celebration every Halloween, and we'll need to get going if we want to make it in time." The smile faded from his face as he realized that despite the name of the gummi ship, Blazer, it was super-slow and would take a few days to reach Halloween Town from where they were right now. "Forget it. This thing is too slow to get there."

Terra held up a finger. "Hold on a second. I made some adjustments to the gummi based on your custom blueprints, and I got it going about 350% of it's previous max speed. To get to Halloween Town, it would only take . . ." He did some calculations in his head. "About 5 hours."

"Terra, I would kiss you if that weren't really weird and it wouldn't be feeding the yaoi fangurls," Sora said, and continued setting the coordinates. He flinched, a jolt of pain having just gone down his shoulder.

The flinch was extremely conspicuous, and everybody saw it. "Sora, are you sure that you should be doing anything like that?" Aqua asked, actually sounding concerned. "I mean, Thadex is insanely good, he can beat any one of the three of us. I think you'd be best with relaxing for a few days, or maybe a week."

Sora sighed. "Okay, so I hurt a bit. It's nothing horrible. I'll be fine." Another jolt of pain went across the side of his stomach, but he managed to hide it. Aqua shook her head, and stood up. As though fate herself was working in that room, the Life Shard had been loose in Aqua's pocket, and fell out when she stood up. Sora stooped down to grab it for her. The second he had the crystal in his hand, gold light swam up his arms. He could feel his energy return completely, and the soreness vanished from his limbs.

Ven, who had been silently watching the whole scene unfold, smiled widely. "Okay, that was cool. Anybody who says otherwise will be ignored."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) And Aqua's theory is exactly right, at least in this continuum.

(2) Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus SUCKS!!! I hate her singing. But I apologize if I insulted any Hannah Montana fans out there. So long as you aren't one of those people who're hoping for a Hannah Montant world in KH3, in which case I hit you in the head with a rubber chicken.

This was a funny chapter. Though, I'm really sorry it took me so long to update. I've been really busy with Track, but lucky for me, it's over! Yay! So I'll be able to update a lot more often.

Badhraa -- Thanks, I really tried hard to get the yo mamma jokes funny. All the main protagonists of FF 8 were in an orphanage together, except for Rinoa.


	40. Halloween Surprises

The gummi ship landed five hours later in Halloween Town. Sora was a vampire, as usual. He turned around to see what everybody else was wearing.

Kairi had a short black dress on, with long sleeves. She had a pointed hat on her head, with black cobwebs making a veil over her face. A witch, which Sora had somewhat expected.

Riku had grey fur covering his entire body, but his hair was still silver. His shoes were missing, and he had paws instead of hands and feet. Luckily, he still had opposable thumbs. He was a werewolf.

When he saw Xion, he almost summoned his keyblade. Darkness covered her, and her eyes were replaced with golden orbs like the heartless. She didn't walk really, but instead slid over the ground. The best thing Sora could come up with for her costume was an anti-Xion heartless. "Well, this is weird," she said, a slight hiss to her voice.

Jessie was missing the bottom half of his left arm, and much of the skin was missing from his legs and right arm. His jawbone was barely attached to his skull. His clothes were a sooty black, and he had a helmet on. He wiped off some of the ash from the forehead of it, and Sora could make out the words "Bomb Squad" on it. He was a Bomb Squad Guy. He was a failed Bomb Squad Guy.

Oro's skin had turned a sickly gray, making his green hair stand out even more than usual. Black surrounded his eyes. His clothes were ripped in places, and dirt covered them. He was a zombie.

Terra was wearing the same armor that the Lingering Sentiment wore, but with a few differences. Some of the armor was cracked in places, the lower half of his face was visible, and one of the parts on the top of the helm (Holy ears, batman!) was snapped off. His entire right hand and much of the lower part of his arm was frozen, yet he could move it normally, which was sort of creepy.

Aqua was extremely pale. Her clothes had been replaced with a long, flowing dress with long sleeves. Her feet were bare, and she floated two inches off the ground. The fabric of her clothes continually fluttered, even when there was no wind. She could only been seen clearly out of the corner of your eye, and was almost invisible when looked at straight-on. She was a ghost.

Ven was garbed in a black cloak ("Hey look," Sora whispered to Kairi, "he's Roxas for Halloween."). Chains were tied around his waist and wrists. His face was pale, and black shadows were around his eyes, giving them an odd sunken appearance. He was a ghoul.

Having already been to Halloween Town a few times before, Sora led the way into Guillotine Square, where the many citizens of the town were getting ready for the Halloween Celebration. The Mayor ran around, his nervous face on. "Oh, Jack, where are you? I need help, I'm only an elected official!"

Jack Skellington himself burst from Dr. Finklestein's lab. In his hands was a cardboard box, filled with something that Sora could only hope was spiders, or perhaps a few snakes. Anything but Christmas ornaments. "I apologize, Mr. Mayor. I was working on a certain something for the Halloween Celebration," he said, gesturing to the box. Sora's heart sank.

"Not again, Jack," he said under his breath. He left his friends behind, really hoping that he was just jumping to conclusions.

Jack spotted Sora amongst the people. "Sora! I'm so glad you came, do I have something special to show you!"

"Jack, I thought that we agreed that you weren't going to be messing around with the other holidays," Sora said, but Jack didn't appear to hear him as he looked through the box. From it, he did not bring something glittering, or shiny. Sora couldn't help but laugh when he saw it. A heartless costume. Seriously, that's all that it was. A Neoshadow, to be exact.

Jack frowned at Sora's reaction. "What, does it not look good? I thought it could fit somebody in the town. I remembered how scary some of the heartless were, so I had Sally make it for me." He held it out, examining it to make sure that it was alright.

"No, Jack," Sora said, trying to control himself, "I was just afraid that you had tried to combine Halloween and Christmas again, and I was relieved."

"We don't have to worry about that anymore," said a kind voice. Sally came from the laboratory. "I've been keeping an eye on Jack." She smiled.

"That's a relief," Sora said, mostly to himself.

"Who are your friends?" Jack asked, looking eager at some new faces to meet.

Sora gestured to each of them as he said their names. "Terra, Ven, Aqua, Xion, Oro, Jessie, Riku, and Kairi," he said.

"Oh, so this is the Kairi we've heard about," Sally said. Sora wished that these people would stop mentioning that.

"Yeah. So is there anything we can do to help out?" Sora asked, quickly changing the subject. No sooner had he said this than the terrible trio, Lock, Shock, and Barrel, ran between legs and right through Aqua. She shivered at the odd feeling of being passed through.

"Well, you could certainly keep an eye on those three," Jack said, seeming to have finally gotten some sense knocked into him after the two times that they worked against him to help Oogie Boogie. "And we still have things to do to set up for tomorrow."

Ven volunteered himself, Terra, and Aqua to decorate. "Aqua can use her magic, Terra's strong, and, well, you know me, Jack, I'm fast." Like with Hercules, Ven was disappointed.

"Have we met before?" Jack asked. "I can't recall your name. But you seem a bit familiar, I can't put my finger bone on it."

Ven looked like he was about to try and remind him of how he helped him fight Oogie Boogie way back when, but he abandoned the idea. If Jack didn't remember him, then what hope did he have of reminding him himself? "Right," he said dejectedly. "We'll get helping."

While Terra, Ven, and Aqua used their talents to get decorations up, the others went chasing after Lock, Shock, and Barrel. It wasn't too hard to follow their path, as they left a trail of destruction in their wake. Gravestones were toppled over, pumpkins were smashed, etc.

Kairi adjusted her hat. "I'm not sure that this outfit is too good. What d'you think?"

Even though she hadn't been talking to him, Riku replied, "You look absolutely terrifying." Kairi frowned, not sure whether to take this as a complement or an insult.

"Don't worry," Sora said, "you look great. Almost good enough to eat." He revealed his pointed teeth, and leaned toward her. "I vill drink your blood!" he said menacingly. Kairi smacked him away, and laughed. Sora shrugged. "Hey, you never know."

Suddenly, a large explosion went off about ten feet away from them. Somebody in a black cloak, reminiscent of the Organization XIII cloaks, appeared in a puff of smoke. The hood was up. He coughed, then swore. "Forget it. I'm done with these things, I'll just take a vessel next time." He noticed Sora and his friends staring at him. "Kingdom Hearts, why me?"

Xion groaned. "Vexen. What are you doing here? Don't you have something to be blowing up right now?"

He considered this for a moment. "As a matter of fact, I was going to be getting Braig's help in trying to send a heartless into orbit--" Translation, blow up a heartless and send it into space "--but I have some business here in Halloween Town, unfortunately. I'm searching for somebody."

"Who?" Sora asked.

"Somebody," Even said vaguely.

"C'mon, give us a hint!"

Even sighed. "Sora, I will tell you that most likely, the entire Organization has come back with their hearts. And one of them originally lived here in Halloween Town. Number VII, to be exact."

No sooner had he said this that Xion went over and started slamming her head against a gravestone. To the questioning looks, as Riku, Kairi, Oro, and Jessie didn't know the ranks of the Organization, she said, "Saix," with a slight whimper.

"WHAT! That low-life lives in Halloween Town!" Everybody jumped at Terra's booming voice. Aqua put a hand on his shoulder, or at least tried to. It had the intended effect, and he tried to calm himself. Terra gritted his teeth. "Where is he? What is he?"

"Somewhere in the town, and while I am not sure, he's most likely like Riku," Even said. All eyes turned to Riku. Even laughed lightly. "You have to admit, it makes sense." Nobody who had seen Saix when he had gone berserk could argue with his logic(1). "Anyways, Aeleus asked me to deliver a message to him. Could you do it for me? I'm not a fan of how I look in this world."

"How bad could it be?" Xion asked. "After all, you're so scary normally that you don't need a costume here."

Even sighed, and lowered his hood. Five minutes later, Xion was clinging to Riku. "That's the scariest thing I've ever seen. And I've seen a few fat old men in Speedos at the town pool. Oh, the horrors." Nobody argued with her. Even replaced his hood, much to the relief of everybody.

Sora, from his position in the branches of a dead tree, said "Okay, now that that's over with, what's the message? If we run into him--which I really hope we don't--I'll tell him."

"Aeleus said, and I quote," Even began, " 'If you put so much as one toe out of line, I will kill you, permanently.' Quite likely the longest sentence I have ever heard him say."

Riku held up a finger . . . claw . . . thingy! "Hey, could you tell Ienzo that I hate him(2)?"

Even's face looked amused, but he said nothing about the contents of the message. "I suppose. Good day to you all." With that done, he pulled a vial from his pocket, smashed it at his feet, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

"I was never a fan of Vexen," Terra said, "or his laugh. It really scares me."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) A werewolf, people. As in, a human that turns into a wolf _at the full moon_.

(2) Requested from my sister.

And I was referring to Vexen's japanese laugh, not his english laugh from the american version of Re:CoM.

I dun liek Saix. I hate him. I hate him a lot. I want to blast him into orbit. Like Even's science experiment. Like I said, Even's experiments are a lot more useless, but a lot more entertaining, than Vexen's.

And also, I made a mistake with the last chapter. I said that the boys of the island had had a Horror Movie Marathon when Sora's parents went to visit some relatives on another island. I'm going to change it, but it's supposed to be his mom--he doesn't have a dad--going to visit a friend of hers on another island. Sora really doesn't have much blood family. At all.

Badhraa -- I had fun writing this Halloweentown world, mostly because every chapter after this--there's three--have a musical number in them.

Annonomys -- Thanks for the suggestion.


	41. Naughty and Nice

_Disclaimer: I do not own the song "All I Want for Christmas is You"_

The trail of destruction led further, and Sora became more worried. From the looks of it, Lock, Shock, and Barrel were headed straight for the Hinterlands. In other words, the doors to the other holidays. They got to the trees just as the trio jumped into the Christmas Town door. "I swear, I'm going to get those three if it's the last thing I do," Sora said. He suddenly realized that he could finally get revenge on Riku for so many pranks he had played on him when they were little kids. This specifically had to do with the jolly man that lived in Christmas Town.

"C'mon, we have to follow them," Sora said, and opened the door. Xion, Oro, and Jessie all did various dives, Terra, Ven, and Aqua stepped in carefully--well, Aqua floated in carefully--and Riku just walked right through. Sora turned to Kairi. "Let's go. Trust me, it's gonna be a blast where we're going."

They both stepped through, and fell through the doorway between holidays. They were both ejected violently into a pile of snow. The others were already up, and ready to get moving. Like the other times when Sora had been to Christmas Town, his outfit changed to a black Santa outfit, but was still a vampire. Everybody was wearing a Santa outfit of some kind, but in different styles. Riku was human, and wore black like Sora. Kairi was in pink. Terra's was metallic, and had bits and pieces of armor. Ven's was golden-yellow. Aqua was still a ghost (But slightly more corporeal than in Halloween Town), so her outfit matched that, almost see-through. Xion was still a heartless sort of being, and wore a slightly skimpy black outfit. Oro was in green, and Jessie was in red. Oro was still a zombie, but Jessie was normal.

"Okay, let's get going. Riku, Kairi, I want you both to meet somebody," Sora said, a smile creeping across his face.

"I second that emotion!" Ven said. Both of them ran down Yuletide Hill.

"You've been here before?" Sora asked.

"Yep!" Ven replied, quickly taking the lead. "Though I'm still wondering why Jack didn't recognize me. After all, you help a guy defeat Oogie Boogie and become the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, and you expect that he'll remember you. But no, he completely forgets you."

"That stinks," Sora said. "So you know Santa?"

Ven nodded. "After I helped out Jack, I just wandered Halloween Town, since I couldn't go between worlds freely yet. You know, the whole deal with the world walls. I found the doorway, found Christmas Town, met Santa, and he gave me an early Christmas Gift. To be able to travel between the worlds without the help of darkness, like Terra, or conscious magic(1), like Aqua. And now, I can't wait to introduce them to Santa." He narrowed his eyes. "Wait, that means that there's more than one Santa," he said to himself.

"Right," Sora said, stretching out the single syllable. He skidded to a stop. Within minutes, everybody else got down to the base of the hill. With a flourish, Sora said, "I welcome you all, to the land of dreams. Christmas Town!"

Kairi smiled brightly, but Riku just blinked. "Geez, I thought you stopped believing in that stuff after that Christmas seven years ago." When Sora was eight, he had asked for a rowboat for Christmas, the 25th had come and gone, and no rowboat on the beach or paddle under the tree. It was the only thing he had wanted. That finally convinced him that Riku was right, and there was no such thing as Santa Claus. After all, he had been really good that year, almost perfect, but he still just got candy and a few books.

"Don't let appearances deceive you," Sora said mysteriously, and led the way to the toy factory. He knocked on the front door, and an elf answered the door.

"Oh! You're that kid, that saved Santa!"

Sora nodded. "Is he free? I wanted to introduce my friends to him." The elf swung the door open welcomingly. Santa Claus sat in front of the fireplace, checking the naughty and nice list, just like when Sora had first come to Christmas Town.

Santa looked up, and smiled. "Sora! It's good to see you again. I see you've been very nice, lately." Sora beamed. "And you have many friends with you."

"Yeah. Hey Riku, could you come over here?" Riku had been hiding behind everybody else, and begrudgingly came up. "Riku, Santa. Santa, Riku."

Santa looked over Riku, and laughed deeply. "So, this is the boy who caused so many children in Destiny Islands to stop believing in me." He checked his list. "The Naughty List, as I expected. But on the edge, admittedly." Riku coughed nervously. "Straighten out a little. Maybe start with telling Sora the truth about the mushroom incident." Riku back up without a word.

Kairi spoke up next. "What about me, Santa. I'm Kairi." He looked down at his list, and smiled. She mouthed 'yes'.

"What about us?" Oro said. "I'm Oro, and this is Oni and Jessie."

Santa frowned when he found their names. "Humph. Well, let's see. For you, we have practical-joking, tagging, and--" he coughed "--mooning teachers and football players. For Jessie, there's stink bombs, stink bombs, and more stink bombs. Then Oni, of course there's tagging, calling mean nicknames, assisting in setting off stink bombs. I can't count all of the things that 'Xion' did, as you were unaware of who you were. But still." He sighed. "Anybody else?"

"Ven?" the blond asked. "Or it might be Ventus."

It took less than a minute for Santa to confirm that he was on the nice list. "Also, how did that gift I gave you work out? I hoped that it helped you."

Ven was speechless. He finally came to his senses. "You remember me? I mean, Jack and Hercules don't remember me at all. All that they said was a feeling of familiarity. Do you know how that happened?" Santa just shook his head. "Oh. Thanks anyways. And the gift was really useful, thank you."

Aqua went next. Santa threw his hands up, exasperated. "Aqua, every single Princess of Heart is on the Nice list, with very few exceptions ever in history. As a former one, you are most definitely on the Nice list."

Last was Terra, who didn't seem very confident. "Terra," he said simply.

Santa looked over it, and found him. He didn't frown, exactly, but just seemed a little disappointed. "Well. You had your memories, and yet, you still performed all of those acts. To be honest, the darkness had little effect on what you did. You would have still gone for the same goals, but with different methods. Slightly less cruel methods. Slightly. Terra, I will be blunt. Your drop from nice to naughty is the biggest I have ever seen. However, how you are is never permanent. Remember that." Terra nodded, and his armor clanked slightly.

A trio of laughter came from outside the window. "Lock, Shock, and Barrel!" Sora said. "I don't know what those three are up to, but it can't be good." Everybody except for Aqua went outside to try and find them.

Santa looked at Aqua. "What would you like for Christmas, Aqua?" he asked, knowing that that was what she wanted to say, deep in her heart.

"I don't know," she said. "I just, I can't explain it. The three of us are together again, but we're so different. Yet, we're the same as always." She turned to St. Nick. "You know, I think I have an idea."

**Musical Moment: Nothing More to Want**

Aqua: I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need.

She looked out the window, where Terra was chasing down Ven to get his hat back.

Aqua: I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree. I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know.

She looked back to Santa.

Aqua: Make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas, is, you.

"My friends," she whispered.

Aqua: I don't want a lot for Christmas, there is just one thing I need. I don't care about the presents, underneath the Christmas tree. I don't need to hang my stocking, there upon the fireplace.

She gestured to the mantle of the fireplace, where several red and green socks hung.

Aqua: Santa Claus won't make me happy, with a toy on Christmas Day. I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know, make my wish come true, all I want for Christmas is you.

She danced through the room joyfully.

Aqua: I won't ask for much this Christmas, I won't even wish for snow. I'm just gonna keep on waiting, for you both to come home. I won't make a list and send it, to the North Pole for Saint Nick. I won't even stay awake to hear those magic reindeer click. Cause I just want you here tonight, holding on to me so tight, what more can I do? All I want for Christmas is you. Ooh, yeah!

She ran into the sorting room, where elves stopped and watched her go.

Aqua: All the lights are shining, so brightly everywhere! And the sound of children's laughter fills the air! And everyone is singing, I hear those sleigh bells ringing.

She went back into the front room, a smile wide on her face.

Aqua: Santa won't you bring me the ones I really need, won't you please bring my friends to me!

She looked out the window, at her best friends romping in the snow.

Aqua: I don't want a lot for Christmas, this is all I'm asking for. I just want to see my friends standing right outside my door. Oh I just want you for my own, more than you could ever know. Make my wish come true. All I want for Christmas, is, you.

Aqua sighed. She looked up at Santa Claus. "Santa, all I want for Christmas is to be able to enjoy the day with my friends. Terra and Ven." She left him and rejoined with the rest of them outside.

"Now, where did those three go?" Sora said, quite loudly. He didn't expect to get an answer, but since the terrible trio was just little kids, it would probably work. Laughter came from a bush. Sora reached in and grabbed Lock by his shirt. His feet waved around in the air as he tried to run. "What are you three up to this time?"

"I'm not gonna tell you!" he said, still struggling to get away. "I'm especially not gonna tell you about Mr. Oogie Boogie!"

"So it has to do with that bag of bugs," Ven said, clearly annoyed. "How many times does that guy have to be destroyed? I beat him, Sora beat him twice. And he's back again?"

"He's not a bag of bugs!" said a high female voice indignantly. Shock leaped from the bush, and Barrel tottered out. "He's even better than that this time!"

"You guys really don't know when to shut up, do you?" Sora said, semi-sarcastically. "The bad guys are getting stupider and stupider every time. So what is he now, if he's not a bag of bugs."

"He's a Shade! An awesome Shade!" Lock said, and finally succeeded in hitting Sora enough to make him let go. The three of them ran off, laughing at Oogie's return.

Terra cursed. "Great. Just what we need, a Shade of Oogie Boogie running around."

"What's a Shade?" Aqua asked, quite to the surprise of her friends. The chances of one of them knowing something that she didn't was a rare event.

"You know the Absent Silhouettes?" Terra asked, referring to the ghosts of the Organization members that died in Castle Oblivion. Sora nodded. "They came back like that because of the way Castle Oblivion worked. It brought memories to life. The Absent Silhouettes are memories. Were memories, until you defeated them."

"Which wasn't easy," Sora said. "I don't know how I beat Marluxia the first time."

Terra looked amused, but he continued. "The Shades are different. A Shade is a being's consciousness brought to life by darkness. Only the darkest of beings become Shades after death, and while they have no true physical form, they gain a greater control over the darkness than in life. Because Oogie Boogie never had a heart, not counting that failure of one that the doctor made, I didn't expect for him to come back as a Shade."

Sora nodded. "Okay, I think I've got it. So how do we beat him?"

"Beats me," Terra admitted. "Neither I nor anybody I have known ever had to deal with one. But I would guess that it would require light to counteract the darkness."

"Okay then," Sora said. "We can figure out how to beat him later. For now, we need to find him. C'mon, we need to follow them!" He ran up the hill, his shoes slightly going into the snow with each step.

Everybody followed him, but Terra waited long enough to say, "Does Sora ever stop to think before he goes off to fight something?"

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Conscious magic is my own word for magic like Fire, Blizzard, things that you do with a spell or incantation. Subconscious magic is stuff like the healing spell Kairi used on Sora after Thadex kicked his butt. Ven's portals work the same way. It has to do more with willpower than knowledge, the former of which Ven has a lot, the latter of which Ven has very little.

I'm not too sure I did very well on Aqua's Musical Moment. It was my first one, and I had no experience with choreography before this. So if it's really awkward, I'm really sorry about that. That was my bad. But the other Musical Moments--I've written three more so far, and two are in this world--are much better than this one. I had some experience with it.

P.S. I got the three reviews for the Ale/AxelxLyn Story I wrote, so it'll be up either a few minutes after this, or in about a half an hour after my allergy shot. It's called "Burning Love."


	42. The Luna Diviner

_ He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander._

_--Napoleon Bonaparte_

A werewolf walked through the streets of Halloween Town. His fur was a midnight black, and he had a scar shaped like an 'X' over the bridge of his nose. Isa lightly hummed a tune. "This is Halloween, this is Halloween, everybody scream, everybody scream! Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween," he sang under his breath. "Humph. I never imagined that I would actually miss this holiday." He continued to hum the tune, and he conducted it in the air with a claw. He closed his eyes, and a slight smile formed across his face.

At least until somebody very rudely ran right into him, knocking him over. "Who did that?" Isa snarled when he got up. He looked around, and spotted the one person that he really did not want to see. "Great. The key-boy." He noticed the stares coming from some of Sora's friends, and recognized a few faces. There was Xion's Other, the Princess of Heart, Sora's friend from the darkness, Riku, and then there was a boy in armor that seemed vaguely familiar. "What are you doing here?"

Xion growled in a manner most heartless-like, walked over to a tree, summoned her keyblade, and started whacking away at the trunk. "If I didn't have the self-control that I do, then this is what I'd do to you," she explained, and sliced the tree completely apart.

"Why do I get the feeling that what Xion said applies to all of us?" Sora said. "Oh wait, because it does."

"Did you just come here to insult me?" Isa said. His claymore appeared, looking as lethal as ever.

Sora coughed. "Right. And before I forget, I have a message from Aeleus. 'Put so much as one toe out of line, and I will kill you, permanently.'"

"Charming," Isa said, still looking like he was about to go berserk. "Go. Now." Still remembering the set of bruises he had gotten when he had fought Saix, Sora gladly backed up, before turning around and running as fast as he could. He was followed by his friends, who, while most of them had never gotten smacked around like him, didn't want to be on the receiving end of Isa's rage.

"Thank Kingdom Hearts," he said. His claymore vanished from his grip. His tilted his head in thought. "Hm. I must say, that may very well be the longest sentence that man has ever said." He turned on his heel, and resumed humming the tune from earlier. That boy, he thought as he walked. In the armor. He felt so familiar. Could it have been . . .

He shook his head and snorted. "You're going just as crazy as your nobody did, Isa. Really, that boy, the Superior?"

Once they were a good ways away from Isa, they finally stopped to catch their breath. Sora saw Terra do some sort of gesture, pulling his hand over his chest in the shape of an X. "A warding-off darkness gesture," he explained.

"Why would you hate him?" Xion asked skeptically. "After all, I'd have thought that he was a favorite of the Superior's, the kiss-up."

Terra didn't respond to that, and just stood there with his arms crossed.

"Kiss-up?" Ven asked. "That explains it. Terra hates kiss-ups. Something about, they aren't any good at doing what they're supposed to, so they make up for it with something else."

"Waste of time and energy," Terra said. "Saix wasn't ever able to complete any missions, so he became 'The Superior's Pet.'" He snorted at the nickname for Saix. "I wanted nothing more than to send an aerial blade into his gut, but it probably wouldn't look too good in the eyes of the rest of the Organization. So I put up with it, barely."

" 'He who knows how to flatter also knows how to slander'," Ven quoted out of nowhere. Jessie took a step away from him. "Napoleon Bonaparte. I thought it fit." He looked around, and everybody was just staring at him. "Apparently not."

"Heartless!" Kairi called out, and pointed at a group of Gargoyles, Wight Knights, and Search Ghosts headed toward them. Sora summoned his keyblade and charged at the heartless, but they just flew past him without a second glance. One actually tripped and fell before getting up and continuing to run.

Sora watched them go. He cocked his head to the side and said "Okay" similar to the way that he had said it when Demyx had run past him in the Coliseum. "That was weird. Something must be ordering them around."

"But heartless would never give up the chance to fight the keyblade master," Riku pointed out. "At least not normally. Whoever's ordering them around must have a big control over the heartless, to not lose his heart."

"Or he has no heart," Xion said. "Oogie Boogie is just a shade, right? He's not a full being, so he doesn't have to worry about losing his heart, because he has none."

Sora nodded. "Let's go!"

In Guillotine Square, people were going nutty trying to get it ready in time for midnight tonight. Everybody except Jack, who appeared to be relaxed and calm, even when Sora told him that there was a chance that Oogie Boogie was back, again.

"Alright then," Jack said, somewhat sadly. "Let's find him and take care of him. We can't have any real heartless running around, or it could ruin the celebration."

Sora saw Jack's expression, and he rethought his plan. "You Jack, forget it. We'll take care of him, and you can get ready for the celebration!"

Jack's face brightened. "Thank you so much, Sora! Would you and your friends like to be in the celebration tonight? We can probably find a place for you."

"I don't think anybody would argue with that," Sora said, smiling. "We'll be there!"

---

They went in the direction the heartless had been going, a path through a wood that Sora hadn't seen before. The full moon's light barely reached through the tree branches. Sora summoned his keyblade to provide some light. "Hm, too bright," he said to himself, speaking of his keychain. He dug around in his pocket and pulled out a keychain shaped like a pumpkin. He attached it to the end, and the Kingdom Key turned into the Pumpkinhead.

"That looks much better," Sora said, and rested his keyblade on his shoulder.

Terra rolled his eyes. "Why would you change your keyblade just so it looks better? That thing is short and doesn't look very strong at all."

Sora shrugged. "Blends in better."

"It's a giant key that works like a sword."

"Yeah, but it looks cooler," Sora shot back. "Which looks better, the Kingdom Key in all of its glittery glory, or the Pumpkinhead, that's more gothic like my costume?"

"He's got you there, Terra," Ven said with a smile. "It does make sense."

"It makes no sense," Aqua said. "You want your keyblade to be stronger, so that you can fight better, right?"

"Not true, actually," Sora said. "The Fenrir is the strongest keyblade I have, even stronger than the Ultima Weapon, but it dims your senses. Basically, if I get into a battle frenzy while I'm wielding the Fenrir, then a boulder could come at me and I wouldn't realize it until it made contact."

"Okay, geez," Terra said. "But what's the advantage of the Pumpkinhead?"

Sora examined his keyblade. "It looks cool. And it's very Halloween-ish."

Terra raised an eyebrow. "Right. But what's so great about Halloween?" That was really the wrong thing to say when he was in Halloween Town, and with Sora and Ven, who were holiday fanatics. Maybe not all holidays, but ones like Christmas and Halloween for sure.

Ven looked at Sora. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Sora replied with a smile.

**Musical Moment: What's So Great?**

Ven: Now listen, my friends, Halloween is here.

Sora: Ghosts, witches, vampire bats fly in the air!

Ven: Something screams at the strike of midnight.

Sora: Everything is seen in a different light.

Sora cut through vines blocking the path, and walked backwards as they continued to go on.

Ven: Full moon clears mysteries, and reveals many more.

Sora: Like what's on the other side of the bedroom door.

Ven: Darkness closes off your sight, turns you lost in the day.

Sora: Makes you think which way is the right way?

At the fork in the road, Jessie went to the right. Two seconds later, he came back shaking. "Spiders. Lots of spiders," he said. Xion put a hand on his shoulder.

Ven: You could say that it's wrong, that it's a waste of time.

Sora: And the raps that we make are a bunch of stupid rhymes.

Ven: But we say, too bad, this day is the best!

Sora: Goodbye to the losers, 'cause we're not gonna rest!

Ven pulled the hood over his head, sending the top half of his face into shadow. He laughed evilly, sending chills down Riku's spine.

Ven: You'll learn that this is real, that tonight is the night!

Sora: We'll celebrate Halloween after a raging fight!

Ven: With the king of nightmares, the opposite of the jolly old elf!

Sora: The shadow of old, the big bag of bugs himself!

Sora pushed aside a bush, to reveal a dark looming castle. The heartless emblem was on the drawbridge's front. Aqua cast a spell that broke the drawbridge's support chains, and it fell down so they might enter the newest lair of Jack Skellington's nemesis.

Ven: It's the one.

Sora: It's the only.

The two of them led the way into the castle, friends following them. The drawbridge somehow snapped shut again, trapping them.

Ven and Sora: Oogie Boogie!

* * *

**Author's Note**

For the record, I did make that rap myself. Made the funky rhymes, 'cause I had a lot time, word!

Isa: You're lame.

Aw, shaddup, dawg!

Isa: That's not funny.

This, I am aware of.

Isa: You also left it on a cliffhanger. _I dont' like cliffhangers_.

Bad dog. BTW, my 14th Birthday is on Saturday! Yahoo!

Ninjasheik -- I know that you're on the nice list, because you reviewed my story! Thanks!


	43. This is Halloween

A laugh went up over the large room they were in. Torches and candles flickered to life, revealing a giant roulette wheel similar to the one that Sora, Donald, Goofy, and Jack had first fought Oogie Boogie on. Except on this one, there was no platform around the edge of the room for Oogie to stand on while he tossed his dice.

Ven's eyes darted all over the place, looking for the hiding spot of the shade. "Hold on a second. Where would a shadow hide, if he didn't want to be found?"

The first one to come up with an answer was Kairi. "In the shadows themselves."

Where none of them could see it, a lever was pulled up. Gears spun, and there was a slight clicking noise in the air.

"What's that noise?" Jessie said. "Sounds a bit like the bomb timers in all of those movies."

Terra shook his head. "No, no, it sounds more like a spring, winding up. Is that giant boxing glove over there?" A bell rang, and the giant boxing glove sprang out at the group. Sora, Kairi, and Ven got out of the way, but it sent everybody else back into the entrance hall. A barrier shimmered into existence.

From the shadows, something leapt onto the roulette wheel. It was all black, but he didn't have tendrils of darkness coming from him like Xion did. Instead, his shape was quite defined. Big. Bad. "Oogie Boogie," Sora said. The Pumpkinhead appeared in a flash of light.

Oogie Boogie laughed. "I don't know what you're thinking, but I ain't gonna lose to you again." A dozen heartless appeared. The lights on the roulette wheel lit up, and Oogie stepped on one of the buttons, one with a circle on it. There was a slight clunk.

Kairi tapped Sora on the shoulder. "Sora, you do know what happens on a roulette wheel, right?"

"Uh, you make a bit, you spin the wheel, and a ball is released and goes around it, right?" he said. He realized what Kairi was trying to say. The both of them dove aside, out of the way of the big metal ball. On top of it was Ven, who was riding it with ease. Sora watched him for a second. "How do ride a ball?"

"Lots of practice," Ven replied, fondly remembering the ball of string he had whacked Lucifer with when he fought the cat. Good times, good times.

Before they could fight Oogie, they had to take care of the heartless. Kairi's Oathkeeper appeared, as did Ven's nameless blade. But as the three of them were spread out, the heartless were spread out as well, making it impossible to destroy more than one at a time. Kairi pulled a charm out of her pocket, shaped like a baseball. "Give me strength!"

In a flash of light, Chicken Little came onto the battlefield. He tripped and his glasses fell off. He searched for them blindly for a moment before Kairi picked them up and handed them to him. Chicken quickly cleaned them off and put them on. He fumbled with the whistle around his neck for a second, before giving it a long, hard blow. All of the heartless closed in on him in a bad move.

From his pocket, Chicken Little brought out a baseball. He backed up a bit away from the heartless. Kairi held her keyblade like a bat. "Two outs, bases loaded," Chicken said. He pitched the ball, and Kairi hit it right into the group of heartless. Flames enveloped them, and hearts flew into the air. Chicken danced around. "Yes, it's a home run! Destiny Islands wins! Destiny Islands wins!" He finally vanished back to his own world.

While Kairi and Chicken Little had been taking care of the heartless, Sora and Ven were beating up Oogie Boogie. The shade yelled in frustration. He sank into the ground like a shadow heartless. He suddenly popped up underneath Sora, and sank back in before any of them could do anything. He did the same thing repeatedly, to all three of them.

"Please, let this work," Sora pleaded. He pulled out the summon charm Tia Dalma had given him, the one shaped like a bolt of lightning. "Bolt!"

The super-dog appeared in a flash of lightning. The next time Oogie Boogie popped up out of the ground, Bolt went faster than one would have thought possible and stunned Oogie. Bolt tackled the villain in the stomach and bit him repeatedly all over his body. In less than a minute, Oogie was a mess.

"Let's go!" Sora said. Energy started to form on the end of his keyblade. Bolt stood on this other side of Oogie Boogie, and braced his paws against the ground. Sora released the energy burst, and Bolt barked, loud! The energy burst exploded. Oogie Boogie was just about dead. Bolt vanished back to his own world.

"What was that?" Ven asked, referring to Bolt's loud bark.

"Super-Bark," Sora replied.

Oogie Boogie stomped his feet. He only had one trick left. "Heartless!" Neoshadows appeared, but instead of attacking Sora, Kairi, and Ven, they gathered around Oogie's feet. The Shade absorbed their darkness, growing bigger and bigger with each one. "Who's the bug now?!" he said in a deep, booming voice. He was at least fifty feet tall.

Ven swore. "Any ideas? Anybody? Even people who aren't fighting?"

"Hey Kairi!" Aqua called out. "Princesses of Heart can use light magic! That'll cause more of a dent in him than anything else!"

Kairi nodded. She pointed the tip of the Oathkeeper at Oogie Boogie. "Light!" A slight spark came at the end of her keyblade. That was it. "How do I do it?"

Aqua slapped her forehead. "We're doomed," she said under her breath. "I don't know! Think of your light! Fix it in your mind, and cast the spell!"

"My light?" Kairi said to herself. Who was the most important person in her life? She looked up at Sora, who was working constantly to make sure that no attacks got through. Kairi smiled. She closed her eyes, and thought of Sora. She let a trickle of magic through into her keyblade. Just that little bit made an orb of light begin to form on the end. "Light!"

When the light came in contact with Oogie Boogie, he yelled in pain. It ate away at him, dissipating his body. In two minutes, all that remained of the Shade was a violet magic charm. Sora scooped it up and took in the magical knowledge. Reflegun.

Kairi groaned, and crumpled to the ground. Sora stooped down to her, and put a hand on her shoulder. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an elixir. Kairi drank it down gratefully. She breathed heavily. "So how'd I do?"

"That was awesome, Kairi," Sora said. "Anybody who says otherwise will be ignored."

"Hey, that's my line!" Ven cut in. Sora glared at him. "Right," Ven said sheepishly. "I've gotta stop ruining those romantic moments. Seriously, I've done that with Riku and Xion twice already. What can I say? Nothing, that's what."

---

Halloween Town was quiet, but for the wind, lightly blowing past. The full moon hung overhead, the only source of light. Sora walked through the town. He held a pole with a lantern hanging on the end.

**Musical Moment: Halloween Night**

Sora: Boys and girls of every age, wouldn't you like to see something strange?

Jessie and Oro: Come with us and you will see, this the town of Halloween.

Pumpkin Patch Chorus: This is Halloween, this is Halloween, pumpkins scream in the dead of night.

Ghosts flew through the air, their forms completely unrecognizable. Aqua sat on the side of a bridge, a malevolent look on her face.

Aqua: This is Halloween, everybody make a scene, trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright.

Ghosts: In this town, everybody scream, in this town of Halloween!

Creature under the Bed: I am the creature hiding under your bed, teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red!

Underneath the stairs to Jack's house, Ven crouched, hood up.

Ven: I am the one hiding under your stairs, fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair!

Corpse Chorus: This is Halloween, this is Halloween.

Vampires: Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

Terra leaned against a fence, a curved smile across his face.

Terra: In this town, they call home, everybody hail to the pumpkin song.

A werewolf ran on all fours across a bridge. Isa stood up, and jumped on a gargoyle statue with ease.

Isa: In this town, don't we love it now, everybody's waiting for the next surprise!

He closed his eyes and reopened them on the word "surprise," to reveal they had gone blood red.

Corpse Chorus: Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can, something's waiting now to pounce and how you'll scream!

Riku: Scream! This is Halloween, red 'n' black, slimy green. Aren't you scared?

Xion yawned at his attempt to be frightening. Riku scowled, and bared his fangs, and his fur stood on end. He snarled, and tried to bite at her. She jumped away, her eyes widened in fright. She nodded quickly before dashing off.

Kairi flew by them, literally, on a broom she had borrowed from a witch.

Kairi: Well that's just fine. Say it once, say it twice, take a chance and roll the dice, ride with the moon in the dead of night.

An old tree walked by, with what appeared to be Terra, Ven, and Aqua hanging from its branches.

Hanging Tree: Everybody scream, everybody scream!

Terra Ven Aqua: In this town of Halloween.

Clown: I am the clown with the tear-away face, here with a flash and gone without a trace.

Ghoul: I am the who when you call who's there, I am the wind blowing through your hair.

Shadow: I am the shadow on the moon at night, filling your dreams to the brim with fright.

Corpse Chorus: This is Halloween, this is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween!

Xion, Oro, and Jessie stood over a bubbling pot, stirring the contents.

Xion Oro Jessie: Tender lumplings everywhere, life's no fun without a good scare! That's our job but we're not mean, in the town of Halloween.

The potion blew up in their faces, sending Jessie's head completely off of his body. He spent the next few minutes trying to find his head, while Oro and Xion played keep-away with it.

Mayor: In this town, don't we love it now, everybody's waiting for the next surprise.

A wooden horse was pulled out on a wagon, carrying on its back a tall scarecrow.

Sora Riku Kairi: Skeleton Jack might catch you in the back and scream like a banshee, make you jump out of your skin.

Corpse Chorus: This is Halloween, everybody scream, won't you please make way for a very special guy.

The scarecrow leaned down and grabbed the lantern Sora had been holding, and lit himself aflame.

Sora Riku Kairi: Our man Jack is king of the pumpkin patch, everyone hail for the pumpkin king now . . .

The scarecrow danced around on the horse's back, flames dancing over his body.

Everybody: This is Halloween! This is Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

Child Corpse Trio: In this town, we call home, everyone hail to the pumpkin song.

Jack Skellington rose from the well he had dove into moments before. He waved to the citizens of Halloween Town.

Everybody: La, la-la, la, Halloween, Halloween, la, la-la, la, Halloween, Halloween, la, la-la, la, la, Weeeeeeeeeee!

The citizens of Halloween Town cheered. The Mayor was crying with joy at such a good celebration. Sora and his friends were happy to have helped out.

Jack came to congratulate them. Sora smiled. "So how did that, feel, doing Halloween instead of Christmas?"

"Much more natural," Jack admitted. "I have my own job to do, and this is it!"

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, Jack," Sora said. He laughed. "It's been cool seeing how you guys celebrate Halloween, but we've gotta hit the road."

Before Jack could respond, Sally slipped over to them. She whispered something in Jack's ear, and the skeleton looked dumbfounded. Sally shrugged. "I thought it might be a good time to tell you, with how happy everyone is. Are you alright, Jack?"

Two seconds later, Sally got her answer. Jack jumped into the air, and let out a whoop. Kairi laughed slightly, but laughed even harder when she realized the only reason Jack would be celebrating like that. When Sora asked her why, she stopped herself laughing with a good amount of self-control. "He's going to be a father."

Isa rolled his eyes. "Oh, that's so sweet," he said. "It makes me want to, puke!"

"I get why you guys hate him so much," Aqua said. At the moment, she looked really ticked at Isa's reaction to the news. She leaned over to Kairi and whispered something in her ear. Kairi's eyes widened. "Try it out for me, please."

Kairi held out her hand, and closed her eyes. All of the light in the immediate area flew into her hand, which she closed into a fist.

"Who turned off the lights?" Isa said. There was almost a bit of fear in his voice, like he was afraid of the darkness.

A voice from behind him whispered. "Your time is up, Isa. You shall lose your heart again." Isa's mouth went dry. A horrible cackle went up, and Isa jumped fifty feet in the air with a yelp.

Kairi released the light, but everybody was already roaring with laughter. Isa's eye twitched. His claymore appeared in a flash of light, and Sora remembered that that night was a full moon. Crud.

Faster than one could have very well thought possible, all nine of them went top speed back to the gummi ship, ready to get out of Halloween Town.

Isa

Saix's other. He's a werewolf, predictably. He's still easy to tick off, but for some reason that even he cannot explain missed the celebration every Halloween. His fur--and in other worlds, hair--is black, but his eyes remain gold. He still has that X-shaped scar, so he must have not gotten it during his time in the Organization. Perhaps a mistake with the fireworks one year . . . Isa seems to be afraid of darkness, not wanting to be without it like he was in _Kingdom Hearts II_.

The Shade of Oogie Boogie

A manifestation of Oogie Boogie's darkness, and the third time that he came back from the dead. Oogie has far greater control of the darkness and heartless like this, but is weaker to light magic.

* * *

**Author's Note**

And thus finishes Halloween Town! I sorta forgot Isa's journal entry last chapter, so I'm putting it in here. Not much else to say . . .

On to the review replies!

Syrena Li -- Always glad to have a new reviewer!

Eva-Badhraa -- Thanks, I had a pretty good birthday.


	44. A Bit of Funny

_Let's face it, this isn't the worst thing you've caught me doing._

_--Tony Stark, Iron Man_

While they randomly went through the worlds, searching for one that needed help of some sort, Sora worked on a system he had started to put together. With Jiminy's help, he was making an electronic file on all of the heartless, nobodys, and the few unbirths he knew by name.

"What happened to slamming on the keys randomly?" Riku asked. "Then getting sucked into Ansem's computer?"

"That ended with two weeks of computer class on the islands," Sora responded. "Mrs. Brine is a pretty good teacher." He typed in a bit of information on Demyx. He carefully picked up Jiminy's Journal and examined the information the cricket had on IX. "A poor fighter? Jiminy, what were you doing when I fought Demyx?" Sora returned the journal to him, and yawned. "Be right back, I'm gonna take a shower." He jumped out of the chair and headed out.

Just a few minutes afterwards, Aqua came in. She saw a picture of Xaldin on the screen. "Wow, that guy looks weird. Is it just me, or do his sideburns make him look like a gorilla(1)?" She hit a few keys, and got to the unbirth section. With nothing better to do, she made a few entries, and saved it. She went back to the Organization XIII section, and looked at the entry for number I. The Superior, Xemnas. There was a tinge of sadness in her eyes as she looked at the information.

Aqua headed back to her room, with the intention of reading for the rest of the day. When she walked by Terra's room, the door opened slightly. After making sure that nobody was around, she looked inside, and gasped. Inside, Terra stood in front of a mirror, and he wore a black cloak, identical to those of the Organization. From the neck down, he was identical to Xemnas.

Terra turned around and saw Aqua. "Let's face it, this isn't the worse thing you've caught me doing," he said, which was true. "Though it's probably pretty high up." Aqua nodded.

"Wassup?" Ven said walking by. His eyes widened at Terra's cloak. "Whoa. Black is not your color."

They couldn't help it. They laughed at Ven's comment, which was exactly what the blond was going for. "Seriously, why are you wearing an Organization cloak?"

Terra shrugged. "Beats me. I saw it in the closet, and thought I might try it on to see if it fit. It did." He reached up, and pulled the hood over his head. "This is me." A gust of wind came from Ven's hand. It knocked the hood down completely.

"That's Xemnas, a nobody," Ven said. "You're Terra, a keyblade warrior."

"And an apprentice of Master Rider," Aqua added, "not of Ansem the Wise." In the blink of an eye, she slipped around him, and pulled the cloak off. "Now, how about we get rid of this thing? Maybe burn it in an incinerator?" A slightly pyromaniac glint entered her eye.

"Did somebody say incinerator?" Jessie ran in. "I wanna burn something! What are you gonna burn?" Aqua held out the black cloak. Jessie grabbed it, gestured for them to follow, then ran off, cackling.

It turned out that the gummi ship did indeed have an incinerator, down in the depths of it, in the form of a Firaga/G. Jessie placed the cloak into a cardboard box. "Would you like to say any last words to this cloak?" Without waiting for an answer, he opened up the hatch, and dumped in the cloak. Fire flared up.

"You know," Aqua said, "the Vikings didn't bury their dead. They sent them out to sea, in burning ships(2)." She made a tune that was probably supposed to sound like a Viking burial song.

"That's sounds like the Star Wars theme," Ven said. "Which reminds me . . ." From his pocket, Ven grabbed a flashlight, flicked it on, and faced Terra. "You shall not defeat me, Lord Brazen! I shall defeat you, and I will recover the ruby slippers!"

Terra flipped his own flashlight from his belt, caught it, and flipped it on, producing a red beam of light. "Foolish Jedi, you will fail in this endeavor, and you will pay with your life!" They made lightsaber noises as they crossed the flashlight beams, and they "fought" all over the gummi ship.

"I have such lame friends," Aqua said, but she still laughed all the same. She grabbed her own flashlight, and flipped it on. She ran after them, ready to kick their behinds.

Jessie watched all three of them go. "Geez, those guys beat Xehanort? They make Oni, Oro and me look normal!" He grabbed a boot that had been laying near the incinerator and dropped it in. "That was awesome," he said upon seeing the leather and rubber burn up.

---

The flashlight shined in his eyes were not very comfortable. Riku grabbed the flashlight out of Ven's hands. "That's really something I'd expect from Sora." He tossed the flashlight behind him. Ven jumped after it, and grabbed it from the ground. But Ven immediately forgot about any kind of lightsaber fight the second he saw Sora.

His hair hung down flat, over his eyes. "Somebody replaced my shampoo with anti-spike soap," he muttered. He pushed his hair up from his eyes.

"It's Sam the Sheepdog!" Oro exclaimed(3).

From the floor, Xion gasped. "Can't, breath, so, funny!" She went into a fresh burst of hysterics. Sora sighed.

"Ven, you got any hair gel?"

"Nope," Ven said simply. "My hair is naturally spiky."

Sora groaned. He summoned his keyblade. "Who messed with my hair!"

Aqua and Ven both pointed at Terra. Said teenager looked around, an expression on his face that said "Who, me?" He snorted. "What can I say? I couldn't resist."

"Hold on," Xion said, managing to get her laughter under control. "So, hold on. Was that you that messed with Xaldin's hair?"

"Superglue," Terra said simply. "Again, I couldn't resist."

Sora cut in. "Right. You'd better hope that this stuff wears off quickly." He went over to the control panel and brought up a screen. "Get ready everybody, because we're about to reach the Olympus Coliseum."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) I got this idea from another site. Somebody wrote about Xion's first day in the Organization. She walked up to Xigbar, and asked him "Hey Xigbar, why do you wear that eyepatch?" and Xiggy said "Well little dudette, it all started when I told Xaldin his sideburns made him look like a gorilla." I loved it, but actually, Braig lost sight in his eye from a sickness. At least in my story.

(2) This little tidbit is brought to you by Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.

(3) If you've never seen Sam the Sheepdog, he was a cartoon character, a sheepdog, that would push up his hair so he could look out at the flock of sheep he was protecting.

Terra's a very bad boy. And I love him for that. I LUV HIM! *foams at the mouth*

I am a Kingdom Hearts fangirl, and proud of it! I'm also slightly a fangirl of Star Wars, but not as much as Kingdom Hearts. But I'm not actually rabid. Don't worry, I don't bit anyways. Much.


	45. The Zeus Cup

The crowd roared in the coliseum. Hercules dove at his opponent, a bull twice the size of a normal one. The Cretan Bull got out of the way easily, and tried to gore Hercules with its horns. Herc grabbed the horns, and wrestled the bull to the ground. He grabbed it around the throat, and squeezed as hard as he could. There was a crack as its neck broke. The bull went limp, and the crowd went wild.

"Thank you! Thank you!" Hercules said as he waved to everybody watching. "It was nothing, really." He flexed his muscles, and three women in the crowd fainted.

Riku snorted. "I could've taken that overgrown cow down in ten seconds, flat."

"Hercules could have too," Sora said, his hair still hanging down in front of his face. "But it's just the audience. He couldn't get an earthquake going, or he could have hurt somebody, and if he did it too quickly, they would have gotten disappointed. Rule #77: Keep the crowd interested in Coliseum Matches."

"It was Rule #78," Ven corrected, "but close enough."

A deep voice came over the announcement system, which was odd, considering that Ancient Greece did not have electricity. "Now that that little pest has been taken care of, the Zeus Cup Prelims will be beginning, and the tournament itself will be starting in an hour. All fighters need to be ready to go by then."

"Hey, Sora!" Phil hobbled over to them. He examined Sora, and pulled the hair up from his eyes. "What happened to ya?" Sora glared at Terra. Phil ignored it, and pulled a bottle out of who-knows-where. "If you're gonna be a hero, ya can't have hair like that." Sora examined the bottle's label.

He embraced Phil in a big hug, and the satyr grunted, unable to breathe. Sora let him go, and thanked him. Yes, it was a bottle of hair-gel, max-hold.

Ten minutes later, Sora strolled out of the bathrooms, his hair spiky again, and it would stay that way until he next washed it. "Now I can be out in public," he said with relief. "Anybody want to do the Zeus Cup? Cause I am." He went to the lobby without waiting for an answer.

Sora scanned the tournament bracket. There were exactly seven empty spots. "So are any of you guys gonna enter?" he asked his friends. "We can't all enter separately. Riku?" The darkness-wielder shrugged indifferently.

"How about the three of us?" Ven said to Terra and Aqua.

"Do I get to kick somebody's butt?" Aqua asked. Terra and Ven nodded. "I'm in."

Naturally, Oro and Jessie were teaming up. Melee and ranged combat combined, they were a tough team to beat. Kairi turned to Xion. "Well?"

Xion considered it for a moment. "Let's see, you use light magic, and I use dark magic. It would be odd, and I make my living on odd. I'm good with that."

---

**1st Round**

"Now, for the first match-up of the Zeus Cup!" the announcer shouted. The crowd roared. "We have, on one side, the keybearer Sora and his best friend Riku! On the other side, we have The Masters of Magic!" (Shaman x2, Wizard x2, Red Nocturne x3, Blue Rhapsody x3, Yellow Opera x3, Green Requiem x3).

Sora summoned his keyblade, as did Riku. The horn blew, and both of them leapt into action. Riku started on the Shamans, while Sora took care of the Green Requiems, as they were always a pain when you were trying to take down a stronger heartless and they kept on healing them. In ten seconds flat, the heartless were gone, and Sora and Riku were the winners.

"Is this always this easy?" Riku asked.

Sora thought about it. "If you know the right tricks to beating them, then it's easy. But when it comes to human enemies, it gets a lot harder."

---

"FIRAGA!" A burst of fire came from Ven's keyblade. The group of soldiers burst into flame, and spent a full five seconds running around trying to put themselves out, before Ven destroyed them completely.

Aqua's keyblade floated by her hand. She swirled her arm through the air, and brought it around. Her keyblade was coated in thunder, and the heartless were easily dispatched. Aqua snatched her blade out of the air and cast a magnet spell, sucking in heartless.

Which were, like the other heartless, destroyed by Terra's strikes. He spun it around in his grip like a drill, and the remaining enemies vanished. "Cake," he said simply.

---

**2nd Round**

"So far, we've seen some great fighting and some, er, neat tricks. I swear, Yuffie, I've never seen anybody throw a shuriken quite that accurately. Really, why did you have to throw it right--" There was a sudden rush of static. "We seem to be having some technical difficulties. Right, now, coming from their 1st round victory against Monkeys and a Barrel--" Powerwild x3, Bouncywild x3, Sniperwild x3, Barrel Spider x1 "--we have the lovely ladies of Light and Darkness, Kairi and Xion! These two will be facing off against the maiden of disaster, and barkeep of one of my favorite spots, Tifa Lockhart!"

The horn sounded. Kairi cast reflect almost immediately as Tifa punched at her. The punched bounced off harmlessly, and Kairi went after Tifa, who avoided every attack that came at her. Tifa jumped up, kicked down onto Kairi's keyblade, and punched her in the chin. Kairi went skidding back from the sheer force of the punch.

Xion sent a blast of darkness at Tifa, and a few orbs hit her, but Tifa just shrugged it off. She sent a thunderbolt at Xion, who brought up a dark shield. The electricity shot off in another direction, zapping somebody in the crowd. Specifically, somebody with green hair.

Kairi cast a cure spell. "Xion!"

"Let's show 'em," Xion said. Her keyblade was engulfed in darkness, while Kairi's shone with light. The two of them worked in tandem, mimicking each other perfectly. Tifa got knocked around all over the place.

Both of them skidded to a stop, while Tifa teetered around, dazed. "Light!" Kairi called out.

"Darkness!" Xion called back.

Both of them pointed their keyblades at Tifa. "Twilight Firaga!"

A swirling mass of fire shot at Tifa, sending the woman flying into the barrier. She had taken quite a beating, but she was still standing. She pulled a potion from her pocket and gulped it down quickly. "Final Heaven!" A row of blue explosions went off under Kairi and Xion's feet, and both of them flew into the air. A silvery clock face appeared under Tifa's feet, and she held out one arm. Her opponents almost stopped in their descent. Tifa jumped into the air, and slammed each one into the ground. She landed on the other side and dispelled the Slowga. Explosive energy gathered in her palms, and she shot a burst of fire like a smaller version of Mega Flare at the two girls.

"That's gonna hurt in the morning," Xion said, peeling herself off the ground. She had now idea how it was that she was still conscious after that series of attacks, but Kairi apparently had not been so lucky. Xion stood up, and staggered. "Crud," she muttered. "Now's one of those times I wish I hadn't used up all of my mana in a super-attack." She couldn't even use a simple cure spell, much less any kind of offensive magic. Xion still braced herself for an attack.

Tifa didn't attack. Instead, she tapped her chin thoughtfully, and reached into her pocket. She drew out a white feather, and offered it to Xion. "Care for a Phoenix Down?"

Xion was definitely surprised at this. Why would Tifa offer her a Phoenix Down to revive Kairi? She reached out carefully, not letting her guard down, and took the down feather. She backed up carefully. When she got to Kairi, she breathed ever so slightly on the feather, and let it go. The Phoenix Down dissolved into droplets of light, which fell on Kairi. The red-head opened her eyes, and stood up. She summoned her keyblade. "How . . ."

Xion gestured to Tifa. "Gave me a Phoenix Down. Can revive somebody from unconsciousness."

Kairi nodded. "Let's go, round two." She cast a cure spell on Xion, who sighed in relief. Tifa ran up and punched in rapid succession at Kairi. Magic sparks danced over her gloves. A fiery explosion finally blew Kairi back a bit.

"Sora, never, mentioned, her," Kairi said, breathing heavily. She reached into her pocket and grabbed a summon charm, a light green gemstone. "Give me strength!" Bambi burst onto the field in a flash of light. He walked over to Kairi and nuzzled her. After a moment of hesitation, she petted him on the top of his head. Bambi backed away a little bit, and started prancing around the battlefield, scattering magic orbs everywhere. By the time he vanished again, Kairi and Xion were both up to full mana.

Both of them managed to maneuver themselves to the opposite sides of Tifa, without getting hit. Kairi's keyblade shined brightly, while Xion's glimmered wickedly. "Twilight Strike Raid!" they shouted at the same time. Both threw their keyblade through the center, hit Tifa, and were caught by the other. They threw the keyblades again, and the same thing happened. One last time they sent them through, and Tifa fell to the ground.

"And the winners are Kairi and Xion!" the announcer said, once it was sure that Tifa couldn't fight any more. Kairi went over to Tifa, cast a cure spell on her, and helped her up.

"Nice fighting," Tifa said. "You two make a good team."

---

"I must say, folks, I have never seen such a strange fighting style in all of my years! The newcomers, Oro and Jessie, are certainly giving Auron a run for his money!"

Auron, while stronger than Jessie in a one-on-one fight, couldn't focus with Oro occasionally shooting an arrow at his head. Then there was the announcer, who felt it necessary to chime in with those comments of his. Why Auron had ever chosen to enter this tournament, he did not know, and neither did anybody else.

Jessie cleaved downward, and Auron just barely avoided getting another scar. "Oro!"

"Come mi pantalones!" Oro pulled out a spray can, shook it up, and drew a target on the ground. With a few simple movements, Jessie got Auron on top of the target, and tossed a stink bomb. This one, instead of the usual rotten eggs, was the smell of burning rubber, one of the worst smells in the universe.

Jessie sidled up beside Oro while Auron was trying to get a breath, and he pulled out a remote with one red button in the middle. "Would you like to do the honors?"

Oro wrenched the remote away from him. "Three, two, one!" He hit the button, and a baby grand piano appeared above Auron, fell, and crushed the warrior.

Auron crawled out from underneath. "I give."

The teenagers high-fived.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Poor Auron, I'm sorry that I must abuse him in the name of comedy. But you gotta admit, a baby grand piano? Where'd that come from?

Sorry that it took me a while to get a chapter up. I have no excuses. Reviews are appreciated!


	46. The Zeus Cup Continued

_A Note to Eva-Badhraa: Remember that little contest I had, to get a summon request? Well they appear in this chapter, keep an eye out._

**3rd Round**

"We've gotten to our 3rd Round, and boy, have we seen some violence today, folks. Between Rinoa beating up Ares for hitting on her, to Leon beating up Ares for hitting on Rinoa, it's been a good time for everybody. Except Ares." The crowd watched solemnly as Ares, God of War, was taken out in an ambulance. "That's gotta hurt. Back to the tournament, we have in this round, Sora and Riku versus, uh, there seems to be a smudge on the name. Medy?"

A voice shouted out "Myde!"

"Whatever. Anyways, this guy's got a really weird weapon, but it's gotten him this far, so what do I know?"

On one side of the field, there was Sora and Riku, keyblade out. On the other side, was this Myde guy, with no weapon in sight, wearing all-blue. His brown hair was in an odd style, like a cross between a mullet and a Mohawk. The horn blew, and Myde thrusted his hand into the air. A bubble of water formed, and expanded into an instrument that was quite familiar to Sora.

"Demyx," Sora said. "Who knew?"

"Name's Myde, if you don't mind," Myde said, and started to strum the strings on his sitar. Water clones appeared, and slid around, occasionally clubbing one of them with their sitars. Riku cut through them quickly.

"What's so bad about this guy? Seems easy enough," Riku said, not noticing the Melodious Nocturne sneak up from behind and whap him with his sitar. "Ow."

Myde strummed a note, and water pillars went up, sending both of them into the air. Myde juggled them easily, and yawned.

When he finally landed, Riku felt really, really ticked off. His keyblade vanished, and both of his hands were engulfed in darkness. Continual blasts of fire came from him, bashing Myde a ton each time.

Myde dug through his pockets, searching for one thing in particular. "Please let this work," he whispered, before he held it into the air. "Let there be rock!"

In a flash of light, an apparently 11 year-old girl in a leather jacket, jeans, and black boots appeared. Her eyes were covered by sunglasses. She carried an Electric Guitar.

"The louder the better!" DarkGuitarGoddess, Goddess for short, shouted. She slammed a power cord on her guitar, and a shockwave radiated out, knocking Sora and Riku off their feet. She rocked out, playing a song that sounded suspiciously like "Through the Fire and Flames." Orbs of energy flew out and tried to hit Sora and Riku. With one final note, the barrage ended. "Thank you Olympia, good night!" Goddess vanished in a flash of light.

"Had enough?" Myde asked as he waved to the crowd.

Sora's eye twitched. "That's it. Riku, get back, it's time to pull out the big guns." He focused his mind to a state of calm. Light burst out from him, and his clothes turned white with black trimming. He felt something open up in his mind, his sixth sense that allowed him greater control over his keyblades. His right hand keyblade changed to the Oblivion, and the Ultima Weapon appeared in his left hand. Sora released his grip on his keyblades, and they both floated up to a position just behind his shoulders. His feet left the ground.

"Thunder," Sora said simply. Blasts of electricity made a circle of scorch marks around Myde. One bolt hit the sitar, and the strings broke.

Myde stared at his broken sitar, and gulped. Sora zoomed toward him, and held his keyblades at Myde's neck. "Any last words?" he asked with a large smile on his face.

Myde took a deep breath. He turned tail and got away as fast as he could, screaming "Run, run away!" He ran into the barrier, and fell backwards.

Riku watched this exchange with great interest. He then looked at Sora, who was floating on his back, enjoying every moment he got in Final Form. "That guy might be a coward, but he's no idiot. I don't know anybody who'd go up against you in that form, myself included." Sora flashed a V for victory with each hand.

---

"Oh, that's gonna hurt in the morning. On to the next fight, we have the terrible trio, Terra, Ven, and Aqua. They've cut down any opponents that lie before them, easily destroying them without so much as breaking a sweat. But their next opponent might give them more of a challenge. He's sent all of his rivals thus far out of the stadium in a stretcher. The one and only, Seymour Guado!"

On the other side of the field from Terra, Ven, and Aqua stood a man wearing a long cape. Blue veins were easily visible in his forehead. In his hand he had a long staff that really wouldn't do much damage in of itself. But it was soon realized that this staff was not meant for hitting, but for spell casting.

"Blizzaga!" Aqua shouted. The fire surrounding them went out quickly. In a space of four seconds, she cast NulAll a few times, which would presumably protect them from any basic element spells.

Seymour smirked. "An admirable action, but a waste of magic." With barely a flick of his staff, the orbs were dispelled. "Now, you can see where my true power lies." He held his staff in the air, and a portal appeared above them. A chain shot from the portal and sank into the ground. It began pulling upward, and something big was being pulled with it.

"Holy cow," Ven said, though that was an understatement, and Seymour knew it.

"Meet the mightiest of all summons," he said, "the great Anima!" Anima roared.

With no other ideas, Ven ran at Anima, jumped high into the air, and hit its face. It barely caused a scratch. Anima swiped at Ven, and knocked him way off. Ven sat up in the dirt dizzily. "Now I can see why those other guys were taken out on stretchers." He jumped up, and grabbed a summon charm out of his pocket. "Courage!"

In a cloud of dust, a red . . . something, a feline of some sort, ran in. On the back of Red XIII was the cat with a Scottish accent, Cait Sith.

"Let's get 'em, lad!" Cait Sith shouted.

"Let's go," Red XIII said simply.

Red XIII charged at Anima, and hit it multiple times as Cait Sith threw flaming dice, which non-surprisingly did not do much damage. When he was right in front of Anima, Red XIII howled. An enormous blast of energy hit Anima. From an invisible pocket, Cait Sith pulled out a megaphone. "Get out here, and do somethin'!" he shouted through it. From the sky, a fat chocobo fell onto Anima's head, then vanished. Red XIII and Cait Sith vanished in a flash of light.

"You've got to be kidding me," Ven said. Anima looked no worse for the wear, and that was one of his best summons!

"He does not fall so easily," Seymour said calmly. "Anima! Show this boy your power!" Anima's eyes flashed, and a beam of light shot from him to Terra and Aqua, who had been just standing by looking for a weakness. A blur shot by them, and Ven took the full brunt of the attack.

In that moment that the Pain attack hit him, Ven felt like a thousand cold knives were plunged into his skin. He screamed in agony.

Aqua leaned down over him, as Terra went at Anima with all he had. Aqua took Ven's hand. "Heal," she said. Nothing happened. Then again, the only true pain was from the brunt of the attack hitting him, and the rest was just a mental illusion. A very realistic illusion.

"Make it stop," Ven said through gritted teeth.

Aqua bit her lip. From in her pocket, the life shard grew warm. A bright light enveloped Aqua, and transferred to Ven. His breathing steadied. He opened his eyes. "Light magic," he mused. "Are you hiding something from us?"

She shook her head. "But there's no time for that, we have to help Terra!"

Speaking of Terra, he flew backwards into the dust. Seymour seemed amused at their attempts to cause any sort of damage to Anima. "I hate that guy," Terra said. "There's got to be a way to beat this thing!" An idea fell into place. They had only ever done it once, when they had three huge unbirths breathing down their necks, but it might be just the thing they needed.

Terra pointed his keyblade at the ground in front of him. "Trinity Focus!" he called. Ven and Aqua stepped on either side of him, and did the same thing. A crown shape appeared on the ground, with the trio standing on it.

"Warrior!" Terra shouted.

"Mystic!" Aqua cried.

"Guardian!" Ven hollered.

Light burst up around them. A red aura began to glow around Terra, a golden aura around Ven, and a blue aura around Aqua. The aura wasn't the end of it, of course. Terra felt much stronger, like he could take on the Rock Titan without breaking a sweat. Energy coursed through Ven, and he knew that his speed was faster than ever before. And Aqua, her sixth sense opened up further than normal, and her mind was processing things at an amazing speed.

Faster than the human eye could see it, Ven dashed at Anima, and attacked it so quickly that it couldn't react at all. Ven's feet barely seemed to even touch the ground. Terra ran at it, his keyblade transformed into a key-fist, and hit it multiple times in the face. Aqua floated an inch off the ground. Her keyblade floated around as she flew through the air, and jumped high up. Fire gathered around her and her keyblade as she flew at Anima at high speed. An explosion rocked the arena on contact, and Anima was almost dead.

"Shall we?" Terra asked. He didn't even need answer from his friends. Both of them got on the other sides of Anima and Seymour. "Focus Delta!" Their keyblade glowed with their respective auras, and they threw them at Anima. The resulting explosion completely eliminated Anima. Terra called his keyblade back to him, and charged at Seymour. With a single slice, Seymour was knocked to the ground, and did not stir. He was still alive, unfortunately. Terra could see the rise and fall of his chest. But until he got a new staff, he wouldn't be performing any summons or magic. It had been slice in half by Terra's strike. As their auras faded away, Terra said simply, "We win."

---

**4th Round**

"And we continue on, closer and closer in each match to reaching the final match. This next match ought to be interesting, Kairi and Xion versus Yuffie and Rinoa! This is gonna be good!"

Rinoa sent her blaster edge straight at Kairi, who blocked it easily. A flurry of spells came at the Princess of Heart. "Reflect!" Some of the spells were caught, but others got through and hit Kairi full force.

Yuffie's shuriken blazed by Xion, and came back to its owner. Yuffie vanished in a puff of smoke, and somebody tapped Xion's shoulder. She whirled around, and was caught by a punch straight to the chin.

"This one's gonna hurt," Yuffie said as her shuriken began to glow with a strange light. She threw it hard, and it looped around three time, with Kairi and Xion barely dodging it each time. Yuffie grabbed the shuriken, ran at her opponents, and struck both of them.

Rinoa put her hand to her lips and whistled. A dog appeared from nowhere, and bit at Kairi and Xion multiple times.

"Was that supposed to do something?" Xion asked. Seriously, there was no visible injuries to either of them. Whereas Rinoa and Yuffie were breathing heavily already.

Kairi held out a hand to Xion. "Shall we?"

"We shall," Xion replied, and took her hand. They raised their keyblades. "Twilight Comet!" A bright blue comet slammed down from the sky and hit the ground. Flames roared up from the point of impact around Rinoa and Yuffie before they could react. When the flames cleared, Yuffie was flat on her back, and Rinoa was on her knees, scraped up all over.

Somebody yelled from behind Kairi and Xion. They looked at each other, an expression of horror on their faces. It took ten minutes, five security guards, Sora, Riku, and Hercules to stop Leon from murdering the girls.

---

"Here we go, the final battle of the fourth round, we have Braig and Dilan facing off against--I'm beginning to like these two--Oro and Jessie! Wait, hold on, you aren't supposed to start yet! Aw, forget it."

Braig randomly fired off bullets, with no way of predicting where one would go. Dilan used his control over wind to speed around stabbing at Oro and Jessie with his lances.

"You take care of Braig, I got Dilan," Jessie said. The next time Dilan stabbed at him, Jessie side-stepped and brought his sword down to pin the six lances to the ground. He brought his foot around to kick Dilan upside the face.

Oro moved continuously to avoid the bullets. He dove to the side, pulled back the string on his bow, and shouted "Blizzard!" The arrow was covered in ice as it fired at Braig, who got hit in the side.

"One arrow versus fifty bullets," Braig said. "I wonder who'll win?" He sent a continuous barrage at Oro, who spun his bow in a circle continuously to reflect away the bullets. When it ended. Oro pulled back the string of his bow, and aimed the shot up in the air.

"Let's see how you dance," Oro said, and released the arrow. At the peak of its flight, it split into a couple dozen identical green arrows. They fell to the ground quickly and at least ten hit Braig. There appeared to be no further injuries to Braig besides a small cut on his hand.

"Nobody, and I mean nobody," Braig said threateningly, "steals my battle quote." Oro shrank away, and ran as fast as he could away from Braig and his guns.

Jessie flipped backward, away from the lances. A gust of wind whipped around him, and Dilan got in a hit. Nothing big, as it was with the flat of the blade. But the flat of the blade connected with the right side of Jessie's head, and he got dizzy for a second. He shook it off, and went for the same tactic he first did. When Dilan stabbed at him with all six lances, Jessie jumped up, pinned the lanced to the ground with his feet, and slashed with his sword. A few pieces of Dilan's hair fell to the ground.

"You're dead. You're so dead, it's not even funny." Dilan went into a frenzy, smacking Jessie all over the place. Dilan jumped into the air, and his lances formed into a dragon-like wind cannon. A vortex shot from it, and rotated around the field. Jessie held his sword in the air, and it shimmered momentarily. When the vortex hit him, the wind slipped past him. Oro jumped into the air, but Braig didn't see it in time to avoid it.

"Crud," he said, and the vortex collided with him. He was sent flying back and he hit the barrier. He fell to the ground, unconscious.

That left Dilan alone, facing off against Oro and Jessie. Oro drew back the string of his bow, and fired an arrow. Dilan leaned his head to the side and the arrow flew by him. He raised an eyebrow. Jessie spun his sword around and stabbed the point into the ground. A burst of energy ran along the ground and knocked Dilan off his feet. While he still had the chance, Oro fired arrow after arrow, each one hitting perfectly.

"Fire!" Oro released the arrow, and it burned along a straight path, and collided with Dilan's chest. That last hit left the Whirlwind Lancer down for the count.

Myde

Demyx's other. In his world, he's a well-known musician, who plays all sorts of magnificent songs. He retained his Nobody's sitar, control over water, hairdo, and common sense (c'mon, honestly, who would fight Final Form Sora?) He first appeared in _Kingdom Hearts II_.

DarkGuitarGoddess

She's my little sister . . . and apparently a summon of Myde's. She doesn't actually play guitar, but she's a beast with Guitar Hero.

Seymour Guado

A half-human half-guado sorcerer, with magnificent skill in both magic and summoning. There's something about him that's not quite right . . . He first made an entrance in Final Fantasy X.

Anima

Considered by some to be the Ultimate Summon. The Fayth of Anima (the soul that created it) was Seymour's mother. Thus, Anima is a she. Her high strength and devastating Pain attack make for a difficult fight. She first appeared in _Final Fantasy X_.

Red XIII

A being of unusual species, whose real name is Nanaki. He was going to be experimented on by an insane scientist (no, not Vexen) but was freed from his imprisonment along with Cait Sith by Ven, and gave him a summon charm in gratitude. He first appeared in _Final Fantasy VII_.

Cait Sith

A robotic cat with a scottish accent, who fights with a combination of his megaphone, which he used to give commands to his now missing giant moogle, and dice--that didn't actually originally flame. The author added that because it was better than plain old dice. He had been deactivated, but was woken up by Ven when the latter had snuck into a secret lab in Radiant Garden. He was freed along with Red XIII. He first appeared in _Final Fantasy VII_.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

I honestly had so much fun writing this tournament. So much Final Fantasy madness in this! I luv it! Until next time, dear readers.


	47. O Mai

**5th Round: The Semifinals**

"Here we are, folks, the first of two matches in the semifinal round! In the near corner, we have the undefeatable Sora and Riku! And in the far corner, we have the indestructible trio--Sora and Riku, I'd be a little bit scared after seeing what they did to Leon and Cloud--Terra, Ven, and Aqua!"

There was a clunk over the loudspeakers, and another voice, one that sounded like it was hyped up on sugar, burst in. "Hey, everybody! This is gonna be awesome, I know it! Hey, when's half-time?"

"There is no half-time. And I thought that you were stuck in the closet! Didn't Snake duct tape your fingers together when you started to irritate him?"

"Yep!"

There was a pause. "That answers one question, but raises so many more. Let's get it started!"

The horn blew, and the fight started. Sora cast a quick reflect spell. "We gotta take care of Aqua first, she'll just heal Ven or Terra." He said these words to empty air, as Riku had already shot off.

A Dark Firaga shot from Riku's palm straight at Terra, who dodged it easily. This was exactly what Riku was hoping would happen, as he sliced at Terra. The edge of the Way to Dawn clanged against the armor on Terra's left arm. That's what that thing was for.

Riku drew back, and sliced his keyblade through the air. A crescent of dark magic shot from his keyblade. A Reflega blocked it. Terra sighed. "How do you think that you could beat me with darkness?" He knocked away another Dark Firaga. "In the two months that I wielded the darkness, I mastered it further than you have in over a year." He raised his keyblade in defense as Riku's keyblade crashed against it.

Riku smiled. "Maybe you can do that, but I know what you can't do." Terra raised an eyebrow. "Dodge a dark blast at point-blank range." Terra raised his other eyebrow, and was sent flying back from the minor explosion. Riku's move was a double-edged sword, as he was hit by the blast as well, but it was dulled by the fact that Riku had braced himself for it.

"Firaga!" Sora sent a blast of fire at Aqua, who rolled out of the way. She threw a Strike Raid, which Sora dodged both ways.

Sora jumped into the air, and his keyblade glowed gold. He flew through the air and hit Aqua multiple times with his Trinity Limit. When he finally landed, he backed up a bit, and charged at her for the finishing blow. "Freeze!" His keyblade was coated with ice as he hit Aqua right in the stomach.

"Heal," she said. Her energy was partially restored. Aqua looked over at Ven, who was distracted by a butterfly. Quick bursts of wind came from his hand, keeping it near him. "Ven! In case you haven't noticed, we're a little bit busy!"

Ven looked over at her, and seemed to notice the fight for the first time. "That's okay, I won't bother you."

"VENTUS!"

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, fine. I know what to do." He summoned his keyblade and charged in, working with Terra to keep Sora and Riku busy.

Meanwhile, Aqua dismissed her keyblade and made a series of hand motions. Magic traced over her hands, and she ended with her first two fingers of her right hand held over her chest. Now, all that she needed was time.

"Don't know what that is, but it can't be good," Sora said, referring to the magic beginning to leap up around Aqua's feet, and getting higher and higher with each minute that passed.

"For once, you've said something intelligent," Terra responded. He jumped into the air, and slammed his keyblade into the ground. Three boulders leapt up from the ground and spun around him. He hit each one in succession, and Sora jumped out of the way of each.

No matter what they tried, Sora and Riku couldn't get past Terra and Ven to disrupt Aqua's spell. Sora backed up, and remembered the spell he had obtained from Oogie Boogie's Shade. He knew instinctively that the spell on its own wouldn't stop whatever Aqua was going to do, but perhaps all that it needed was a touch of darkness.

Sora called over Riku. Aqua looked like she was about to release the spell. "Help me with this. And stay close." Sora's keyblade glowed violet. Riku held out his hands, ready to release the energy when it was needed.

Aqua closed her right hand into a fist and punched into the air. She held her open left hand into the air next to her right hand, and brought both hands down quickly. A burst of energy billowed out.

"Reflegun!" Sora cried. Riku released the dark magic just as the shield formed. What resulted was a dark purple shield, that cut away everything that came near them.

The ground, barrier, and pillars that surrounded the field were not so lucky. When Sora released the shield, his jaw dropped. All the ground that had not been covered by his Reflegun was charred black. The barrier was gone completely, and the pillars had disintegrated.

Aqua just looked at the damage to the field, and the lack of injury to Sora or Riku. "You've gotta be kidding me," she said. "That's one of the strongest spells I know, and he beat it with a Dark Reflegun! That shouldn't even be possible!"

"That's what he does best," Riku said. "The impossible."

Sora held up his keyblade. "Let's go." Riku did the same.

"Twilight Meteor!"

Something very big, and very heavy, fell from the sky at high speed. Spinning around it were orbs of light and darkness. The chances of Terra, Ven, and Aqua getting away in time were, approximately, none.

A note from the censors: The remaining few paragraphs of this fight was found to be too disturbing for young readers, and most older readers as well. Thus, it has been taken out, and you can know that Sora and Riku won and continued on to the finals(1).

---

**6th Round: The Finals**

"Hiya everybody! This round is gonna be awesome! Hey bro, guess why it's gonna be awesome."

There was a sigh, that sounded like a rush of static. "I don't know, why?"

"Are you stupid? It's the finals! C'mon, get your head--"

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT!!! The last time you said that, we had to spend three weeks clearing out the performers from the mansion."

The audience went through a collective "WHAAAAAAAT?"

"Oh, right, you probably have no clue what we're talking about. Perhaps this will help you understand better. I think it's time we unmasked ourselves."

From the darkness of the announcer's booth came two floating hands, one right and one left. "You may call me," the right hand said, "Master Hand."

"And I'm Crazy Hand! Yahoo!" The left hand known as Crazy Hand fell to the ground, and scuttled off like a spider, across the ground, up a wall, and back around to the announcer's booth. "Let's go, go, go!"

The horn sounded for the final time in this tournament. Sora and Riku, facing off against Kairi and Xion. O mai.

All four summoned their keyblades. Riku and Xion were quick to go at each other, continually striking at each other.

"You've been practicing," Riku said. "Not enough for me!" He stabbed, but Xion just rolled out of the way. She waggled one finger, as though to say "Oh no you don't."

Sora and Kairi circled each other. Sora looked somewhat nervous. Not that Kairi could beat him, but that he could accidentally hurt her while they were going at it. "Now, if you feel any pain at all, just say 'uncle' and I'll--" He barely got out of the way of her slice.

"You were saying?" she said tauntingly. "Graviga!" Sora couldn't move his feet, and he held his keyblade up to block.

A burst of dark fire came from Riku's palm. Xion knocked it away easily. He backed up, and sent a storm of dark aura at Xion. She released her keyblade in order to use both hands to swirl the darkness around, and the darkness solidified into a long spear. She grabbed it in the middle and thrusted forward with it. Riku caught it, spun it around, and sent it back at her. It got so close to her that she could feel her hair rustle as it passed by.

"Kairi!" Xion called.

"Let's do it!" The girls went back-to-back, and their keyblades spun around them quickly, Kairi's swirling with light, Xion's in darkness. The circle got bigger and bigger, and both Sora and Riku were sent flying.

Sora glanced at Riku upon landing. "Ready?" Riku nodded. Sora put his hand on Riku's shoulder. "Dark!" Riku vanished. The yellow, blue, and red in Sora's outfit turned violet. A bat's wing appeared on each of his pant legs. The Way to Dawn appeared in his left hand.

This is gonna be good, Riku said.

"You can say that again," Sora replied. He dashed at high speed at the girls, who were too shocked to move. A burst of darkness came from the Way to Dawn, which Xion blocked with a dark shield.

Keep going at it. The dark shields can only take so much before shattering. That's from experience, Riku informed him. Sora barraged the shield with strikes and all sorts of magic. With each hit on the shield, Xion was more and more strained to keep it going.

"I can't hold it much longer," she told Kairi. "He gets through, we're going to lose easily."

Kairi bit her lip. She held out her keyblade, and fed some of her magic through it, enhancing the shield for a little bit more time. Hopefully long enough to think of something.

Two seconds later, Kairi could have kicked herself. She put a hand on Xion's shoulder, and closed her eyes. "Shadow!" Xion vanished. Kairi's clothes turned all black. Kairi summoned the Broken Path into her left hand.

Sora let out a low whistle. "That's new." He flipped his keyblades around in his hands, so both were held with a reverse grip. "Shall we?"

Kairi got into a battle position, Oathkeeper held out front, Broken Path over her shoulder. "I thought you'd never ask." The battle truly began.

Sora ran forward, jumped, flipped in midair, and slammed his keyblades into the ground. A slight tremor shook the area, but Kairi jumped up to avoid it easily. She threw both keyblades in a double Strike Raid. They spun quickly, and hit Sora straight on. Kairi flipped backward, and caught the keyblades in the air. She twisted around, fired a Twilight Blizzaga at Sora, and landed perfectly.

Sora recovered quickly, and moved faster than the eye could see. He ran quickly around Kairi, kicking dust into the air. He skidded to a stop, and held the keyblades together. A blast of lightning shot from the tips, straight at Kairi.

They ran at each other, and their keyblade crashed together. "Not bad," Sora said, breathing heavily.

"Yourself," was all that Kairi could reply. She closed her eyes, and in a flash of light, Xion appeared in her place, wearing the same outfit Kairi had been in.

"Two can play at that game," Sora said. Light flashed, and Riku appeared in his place. His clothes were his own, but all black with a violet undershirt.

Xion summoned her keyblades, as did Riku. He went in fighting, with Xion fending off each strike efficiently. Riku stabbed both blades into the ground, and bursts of darkness came from the ground. He thrust downward with his keyblades, and Xion held up her keyblades to form an X. It blocked the trust, but her foot slipped and she went sprawling. Xion pushed herself up and spun around to face Riku.

"Twilight Quake!" Xion hit the ground with her keyblades, and a crack appeared in the ground. It spread out, and knocked Riku off balance. He managed to keep standing, even when light and dark energy burst from the crack.

Riku healed himself. He held his keyblades at the ready. As they circled each other, searching for an opening, Riku said, "That isn't a bad look on you, y'know."

"I could say the same thing about you," Xion replied. "Black makes you look sexy."

Riku could just hear the record scratch in his mind. He stopped completely, and his arms fell to his sides. Xion went straight for him and hit him right in the stomach. She knocked him over and pinned his arms down. "First rule of fighting a girl. Don't let yourself get distracted by flirty comments."

"No, the first rule is don't get distracted at all," he corrected. While barely moving, he gave Xion a quick peck on the cheek. That was enough.

Riku managed to get up while Xion was in a daze. At that moment, both drives ended, and Sora and Kairi reappeared. All four got back into battle positions, and nobody moved.

A column of flames erupted in the middle of the field. They jumped back, and Sora knew that they would have to pick up their fight later. The fire cleared, and there stood the blue-skinned god of the dead. Hades.

"Hey, how's everybody doing! Hope I'm not interrupting anything," he said smoothly. "Right, right, I forgot, the Zeus Cup's going on today."

"What do you want, Hades?" Sora said, ready to stop talking and start bashing.

Hades turned around. "Ain't it obvious?" He snapped his fingers, and heartless appeared. The barrier vanished as the heartless went after the crowd. Hades watched them go in completely the wrong direction for a second. "What! Stupid things! You're supposed to get him!"

"The only person who can control a heartless completely is one without a heart." Terra, Ven, and Aqua had joined them down to confront Hades, as well as Oro and Jessie. Terra was the one who had spoken. "So unless you want to take the chance that you could have a nobody--which I seriously doubt that you do--I'd give up on trying to control them like that. Stick with your monsters, Hades."

Evidently, Hades did not like being criticized by a sixteen year-old. He completely flared up. Ven backed up a step. "You're ugly when you're angry." The audience was quickly cleared out of the stadium, and the heartless returned to Hades.

But while they challenged Hades, there stood on the wall of the Coliseum, a figure in red and black armor. Thadex's helmet was still on, because this could get violent if it went wrong. Though the chances of that happening were very little. All it required was a bit of timing, and a certain keyblade master would find his heart breaking.

Master Hand and Crazy Hand

A right and a left hand, who are the manifestations of the creative and destructive spirits, respectively. Master Hand is serious, while Crazy Hand is goofy. They took a break from the Super Smash Bros. Tournament to act as announcers for the Zeus Cup. At least, Master Hand did, while Crazy Hand spent most of the time stuck in a closet. They first appeared in _Super Smash Bros. Melee._

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) Meteor gets very violent.

Why did I put in Master Hand and Crazy Hand? Because I'm a freaky fourteen year-old girl with nothing better to do in life.

EvaXGo -- Well, I did say that I'd put it in. You're welcome!


	48. The Nemean Lion, and Thadex's Plot

It really did not take long at all for the heartless to be destroyed. Sora had Hades cornered, and from the look in the god's eye, he remembered the feeling of the keyblade. "You know, I'd love to stay and chat, but . . ." Hades vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sora thought it was over. Of course it's not over! A lion's roar erupted over the stadium.

A lion the size of an SUV had appeared. Its coat gleamed like gold, and its teeth were huge. There was something that looked suspiciously like raw meat stuck between the teeth. Sora did a quick head count, and was relieved to come up with eleven, the nine of them, Hercules, and Auron. Unfortunately, after their losses the guys from Radiant Garden had headed back home.

Sora immediately charged at the lion and stabbed at it. It didn't even make a movement to get away, and Sora found out why. The keyblade bounced off its fur like it was made of solid steel.

"What is that thing?"

"The Nemean Lion," Auron informed him. "Its pelt cannot be penetrated by anything, and even the most powerful magic is deflected."

"So, it's bullet-proof?" Sora said. The lion roared again. And Sora saw it. "Go for the inside of the mouth and its eyes! It's just the fur that can't be hurt!" His keyblade became covered in fire. He charged at the Nemean Lion again, and aimed toward its mouth.

The Lion roared in pain as the fire scalded its gums, and the keyblade poked a hole in its tongue. Sora jumped back, not eager to become an after-dinner snack. A bright green arrow flew from Oro's bow, but was stopped by the fur around the lion's mouth. It had learned its lesson the first time, and wasn't going to open its mouth willingly again.

"Herc! You have to get its mouth open!"

Hercules looked at the lion, and back at Sora. "I'm not so sure about that. I like my fingers the way they are. Ten of them."

Auron took charge. "Coward." He stabbed his katana straight into the lion's mouth, and pried open its maw, using his blade like a crowbar. He managed to get the lion's mouth open enough that Oro could fire arrows at its mouth, and Aqua could send shards of ice fast through the air. Finally, Auron thrusted upward, and there was a crunching noise as bones were shattered.

Blood dripped through the Nemean Lion's mouth. It staggered, before falling to the ground. It did not stir from where it lay.

While they celebrated their victory, Thadex stood in the shadows. He was watching them, and was pleased that Kairi stood only with Xion, while Sora was at least ten feet away. Not very far, but Thadex could move very fast. Perhaps not as fast as Ven, but still fast.

Before Kairi knew what had happened, somebody grabbed her left arm behind her, and a short red and black keyblade was held at her throat. "Too easy," Thadex murmured.

"What do you want?" Kairi said, afraid to summon her keyblade.

"Say two words to me," Thadex said, "say the words 'I submit.'"

When she said nothing, Thadex twisted her wrist, hard! She winced. "Fine, fine. I submit. Are you happy?"

"Very," he replied. He grabbed her hand, and a horrible burning sensation went through Kairi's palm. She didn't dare try to fight him, because Thadex's keyblade was still against her neck. The burning sensation finally stopped. Thadex spoke again, but this time it was to all ten warriors who looked about ready to murder him. "Don't worry, I'm leaving. I just thought I'd take something with me. Or somebody with me." He directed his next words to Sora. "Just try and get your princess back now, keyblade master." A Corridor of Darkness opened up behind him, and he backed up into it, Kairi in tow.

Sora watched them vanish, and saw the look of pure terror etched into Kairi's face. The portal closed. Sora released his keyblade, and it vanished in a flash of light. He fell to his knees. He pounded the ground with one hand. "I can save the universe twice, destroy an army of nobodys, and defeat eight members of Organization XIII, but I can't save Kairi."

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up at Riku, whose face was emotionless. "We'll find her," he said simply.

Xion noticed something where the dark portal had been. Something small, shaped like a star. She picked it up, and saw that it was a charm of some sort, made from thalassa shells. She stooped down to Sora, and handed it to him.

"Her lucky charm," he said quietly. He held it carefully, and closed his eyes.

_"It's my lucky charm, be sure to bring it back to me," Kairi said._

_Sora fingered the charm. "Don't worry, I will."_

_"Promise?"_

_"Promise."_

_Kairi relaxed a little. "Don't ever forget. Wherever you go, I'm always with you."_

"I'm always with you," Sora said. He jumped up. "Okay, let's go!"

---

When they emerged from the portal, Thadex dismissed his keyblade, and darkness swam in his palm. He grabbed Kairi's right hand, and pinned both hands behind her back. The darkness sealed into something resembling handcuffs. He grabbed her shoulder, and led her through the roads of the town they had appeared in.

It looked like something straight out of a storybook. Stone buildings, people going back and forth, merchants selling their wares, and a huge castle creating a background wherever you were. But the feeling was cold. Kairi saw many people in rags of clothing, and most people looked sad. Then, there were rich people, who avoided the poor like they were just piles of garbage.

"What is this place?"

"Kingdom of Ra," the apprentice replied, much to her surprise. "Disgusting place."

"Why did you take me here?"

"Kill two birds with one stone," he replied. He said nothing else.

Kairi didn't try anything, like running off, or trying to fight him. She had tried to summon her keyblade, but that didn't work, and magic wouldn't come to her. She thought about her good luck charm, and hoped that Sora had found it. She had managed to slip it from her pocket when Thadex grabbed her, but had only been able to drop it to the ground.

The gate to the castle was open, but people avoided going anywhere near it. Thadex continued to walk forward, straight through the gate, courtyard, and into the castle itself. The audience chamber was dark, in the sense that the color scheme was full of black.

A man with a cold demeanor sat in the throne. Thadex bowed slightly. "King Rayar, I have my part of the deal. A maiden of purest heart."

King Rayar stood up and examined Kairi. He looked into her eyes. His own were a violet color, that stood out against his fair skin and blonde hair. He was probably about 40 years old. After a moment, King Rayar smiled a horrible smile.

"She has a light in her heart that I have not seen in all of my years. She is perfect," he said smoothly. He dug through his pocket, and pulled out an old yellowing scroll. He handed it to Thadex. "There's my part of the deal. It was a pleasure doing business with you."

Thadex unrolled the scroll to make sure it was the one he had been searching for, and rolled it back up. He snapped his fingers, and the cuffs disintegrated into smoke. A guard stepped forward and grabbed Kairi so strongly she felt like her collarbone would break. Thadex vanished into a Corridor of Darkness.

"What do you want me for?"

The King laughed slightly. "You must come from a land far off to have not heard of me. Each month, on the full moon, I choose a young girl with a heart full of light. She will dine with me, my wife, and my daughters, and in the morning--" he smiled maliciously "--will be killed."

Kairi's eyes widened. This guy was insane. Before she could say anything more, a bell rang from the top of the castle. It rang five times. King Rayar smiled brightly. "Perfect timing. It is time for supper."

The guard pushed Kairi to the dining hall, not gently at all. He shoved her down into a seat. Already sitting at the table was a woman who was probably the queen, and seven girls from age nineteen to six. King Rayar took a seat at the head of the table. "Let us eat!"

Men came from the kitchen, with silver platters. They placed them on the table, and uncovered the plates. Kairi was relieved to see that the food she had been given consisted mostly of fruit. She nibbled at the food, but couldn't get the fact out of her head that by tomorrow, at noon, she would be dead.

The youngest of the daughters, the six year-old, sat next to Kairi. She looked at Kairi, but in curiosity. "Are you a princess?"

It probably wouldn't be a good idea to try and explain that she was a Princess of Heart, considering she didn't understand it herself. "No, I'm not. Why would you ask that?"

The little girl shrugged. "I thought you looked like one. What's your name?"

"Kairi. And yours?"

"Selkie," the little girl said proudly. She looked down at her plate, and said out of the blue "My daddy likes stories." She nodded quickly. "At least, my mommy says my daddy likes stories."

"You don't say," Kairi said, her mind working at high speed. "How do you get the attention of somebody at supper?"

"I think you just gotta stand up, and if you wanna say somethin' to my daddy, you say 'Your majesty' first. What 'cha gonna do?"

"I just got an idea, Selkie. Thanks to you," Kairi said. She stood up slowly. "Your majesty?"

King Rayar looked up at her. "Speak."

Kairi chose her words carefully. "In this land I come from, I learned an old art, one that most people cannot hope to learn well, at least where I lived." She breathed. "Story-telling."

A spark entered King Rayar's eye. "You do this well?"

"I am considered one of the best," she replied, which was not untrue. She did tell stories sometimes to the little kids at the kindergarten on Destiny Islands. Since Destiny High's classes ended an hour and a half earlier than the kindergarten's, she would go over there when she didn't have any homework. The kids always liked the stories she told.

The King looked genuinely interested. "Very well. After supper, you will tell one of these stories. I expect it to be as good as you claim."

Kairi smiled. "Don't worry, I already have one in mind." She sat down, and whispered something to Selkie. The little girl listened carefully, and nodded quickly.

The Nemean Lion

A lion with skin that is completely inpenetrable, and will deflect all but the strongest of magic spells. The only two ways to defeat it is either through strangulation, or by attacking the inside of its mouth or its eyes.

King Rayar

The Monarch ruling over the Kingdom of Ra, a poor world held by the iron fist of its king. He has the unique ability to detect how much darkness is in a person's heart by looking in their eyes, and uses this ability to find maidens of great light who can be used as a sacrifice. He has a great love of stories. While he is an original character, he is based off the character of King Sharayar in _A Thousand and One Arabian Knights_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

And this is my one none-Disney world, the Kingdom of Ra. While the world is of my own creation, the story of the world is based off of A Thousand and One Arabian Nights. And beyond the main plot, there is also a subplot of this world, which will be introduced in two chapters. Not much else than I can think of to say. Remember, reviews are always appreciated!


	49. The Second Story

_But then, when all hope had died, and the hour of doom seemed at hand... a young boy clothed in green appeared as if from nowhere. Wielding the blade of evil's bane, he sealed the dark one away and gave the land light._

_--The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker_

Kairi still didn't know how she managed to make it through the night, but she somehow survived. By dawn--at least, she thought it was dawn--the ghosts had vanished, but the crypt remained cold all through the day. Regardless, she continued the story from the previous night, and came to its end.

"And they all lived happily ever after, the end." Kairi took a deep breath.

Selkie bounced up and down in her seat. "Tell another! Tell another!"

"Hold on," King Rayar objected. "I think that's quite enough for tonight." Just as he had begun to stand up, a clunk and a shriek came from the end of the hallway.

"Get off me, Coraline!"

"Shut up, Sarah! I'll get up when I feel like it!"

"The two of you, in here!" the King commanded. Two girls, fraternal twins aged twelve years old, walked into the throne room bashfully.

"We wanted to hear a story," the blonde said. "Please?"

"Yeah, let her tell another one!" the brunette said.

King Rayar looked from Coraline, to Sarah, to Selkie, to Kairi, then to the ceiling. "Very well, go on."

Kairi adjusted herself, and folded her hands in her lap. "This tale takes place in a land far away, so long ago that nobody is left that was there when these events take place. This story has many parts to it, but I will tell you the part I know. The very beginning, which has its own ending. But this tale, this legend, continues on through time, even to this day."

---

Across the universe, in the Kingdom of Hyrule, the hero clothed in green, Link, jumped into the air and plunged the Master Sword into the heart of Ganondorf. The evil man staggered backwards, and the glowing Triforce symbol on his hand faded away into nothing. The age of Twilight had ended in Hyrule.

---

"We call this story," Kairi said mysteriously, "The Legend of Zelda." She wove the tale beautifully, each word having a sort of magic to it. This night, as the story was so long, she only got about a third of the way in before both Selkie and Coraline had fallen asleep.

"Coraline! Wake up!" Sarah said, trying to get her twin to get up so they could hear the remainder of the story.

The King asked Kairi, "How much remains of this story?"

"Quite a lot, to be honest," Kairi said. "It could take a while to finish if we keep on going tonight."

King Rayar sent his daughters to their rooms, and sent Kairi back to the crypt. While she was being led out of the room, she overheard a guard say something to King Rayar. "Sir, are you going to cut it off there? I apologize, but I was listening in on the story myself."

"You are a guard, and you will do your job," the King said stubbornly. "You will not spend your time listening to stories. To answer you question, I will allow this girl to continue."

Kairi managed to hold off a smile, but didn't need to once they came to the door to the crypt. She swallowed as the guard led her down the steps, and left her again. Soon, the time came the same as the previous night when the when the wind stirred, and spirits appeared. Most ignored her, but some tried to get near her, tried to touch her. When they touched her, horrible chills went through her.

"I don't know how I'm going to do this," Kairi said. She couldn't sleep when these things were around, and even in the daytime it was still horrible. If the King ever got tired of her stories, or figured out what she was doing, she'd be headed for a quick drop and a sudden stop. "I really can't do this." She sank to the ground, and buried her head in her hands.

"Ytr gsingni," said a ghost. Kairi looked up, and the spirit of a maybe eighteen year-old man sat next to her. "Nigs."

"Sorry? I don't understand."

He narrowed his eyes, and snapped his fingers. He cleared his throat. "Al, al, al, al, al, al, al," he sang, sounding like a musical scale.

"Oh! You mean sing?" The ghost nodded. Kairi shrugged, figuring it had to be worth a try. "What to sing?" she asked herself. She remembered a song she had done for the talent show last year, and it was pretty nice. "Six A.M. Radio playin', stumble out of bed, runnin' out the door. A brand new day." The ghost motioned for her to continue. "Never thought I'd have this feeling, never thought I'd get this far. But I'm okay, and I, fly, I reach out my hands and touch the sky, that's right in front of me. And I try, just let go, relax, enjoy the ride, and I feel free. When I fly. When I fly." She kept on singing, and felt better as she sang.

The ghost listened to her, and smiled. "Oyu rea dogo."

"I don't follow," Kairi said. "Who are you?"

"Eliv Thade," he responded. He looked up at the ceiling in thought. He held out his hand, and moved his other hand across it like he was writing. Kairi searched through her pockets, and came up with a small pad of paper. In another pocket was a pencil. She offered it to him, then realized that since he was a ghost, he wouldn't be able to pick it up. Which is why she was surprised when he picked it up and started writing on it. He showed it to her. "_My name is Eliv Thade. I was cursed to forever speak in anagrams while I was alive, and that transferred to my ghost. I was trying to tell you that you are good at singing_."

"Oh!" Kairi said. "Thank you. I'm Kairi. It's nice to meet you. Can you tell me about this kingdom? Why King Rayar is like he is?"

"_I'm not entirely sure, but rumor has it that he was betrayed by his lover, who tried to kill him. Since then, he's been cruel to everybody, especially women. I'm just a bit surprised that you were able to survive this far. He must really like your stories_."

"I'm not so sure that it's him that likes my stories, but his daughters."

"_If you say so. Now, I'm sure that you're wondering why I'm down here_."

"A little bit."

Eliv sighed. "_I was the son of a noble, a duke. I met the King, his wives, and his daughters when I was sixteen. I saw his eldest daughter, Maria, and it was love at first sight. It didn't matter to us that there was an almost two-year age gap. No time could separate us. But, as it wasn't good for the son of a duke to court a princess, especially one that would likely become the queen one day, I had to see her every night. Even after a run-in with a witch, which caused my anagram-ism, I wrote long poems for her. The day came when we were in her room, and we, uh, were doing things, when a guard burst into the room. To shorten things, I was sentenced to death, and have remained in this crypt since that day_."

"That's so horrible! But why can't you move on? Why are you a ghost?"

"_I'm tied to the world of the living, because I never got to tell Maria that I_"

Kairi searched for the rest of the words. Nothing was there. "You what?"

He closed his eyes, and wrote three words. "_I love her. If I could let her know that, then I know that I could go on_."

"I could try and tell her," Kairi suggested.

Eliv's eyes widened. He smiled brightly. "Yarell? Aknht oyu!" He grabbed the pad. "_That is to say, really? Thank you_!"

"You're welcome," Kairi said. But while she smiled, her eyes remained sad. Because no matter what, she was still here, stuck in the crypt of the castle of King Rayar, in the Kingdom of Ra, where the only person who knew where she was had been the person who had dropped her here with no intent of letting her go. A tear fell from her eye. "Good night, Eliv." And she fell once again into a restless sleep.

---

Sora's keyblade crashed against Roxas's. Sometimes it really paid to have a sparring partner that you could blow off steam with without worrying about hurting you or them. "This is taking too long!"

"It's only been two days," Roxas said.

"You can do a lot of harm in two days." Sora grunted, pushed Roxas down to the ground, and pointed the end of the Kingdom Key at the nobody's chest. "How can you act so calm?"

"How about the fact that I can control myself a lot better than you can," Roxas said. "Yet another difference between us. You think that I'm not worried about Naminé? I can barely feel her. She--and Kairi too, I guess--are alive, but in trouble. Big trouble."

"Exactly," Sora said, "so we need to get an idea. There's gotta be something we can do besides roaming the universe, searching for a world with a Princess of Heart on it." He stopped completely. "Samurai."

"What about Riku?"

Sora shook his head. "No, the Samurais. Those were the nobodys you controlled, right? And there's still a ton of them, despite how many I destroyed. They can travel through the darkness without getting hurt by it, since they don't have hearts."

"And they have more intelligence than a Dusk," Roxas added. "Really, those things aren't very intelligent. When they were sent after me in the digital Twilight Town, they mistook the real me for pictures of me! But you're right. If you can summon even one Samurai, it'll gather its fellows and they'll all be able to search for her." Roxas tapped his foot on the ground in thought. "You'll have to be awake to do it. I know exactly how we can wake you up."

"Is this going to hurt?" Sora asked.

"There's a possibility of that," Roxas answered. He summoned his keyblade, and struck the ground with it. "Quake!" The platform shook, and started to tilt over. Roxas dug his keyblade into the ground to hold on, while Sora was taken so much by surprise that he didn't get the chance to hold on to something. He fell of the platform.

The shock of falling certainly woke Sora up. He sat up and rubbed his head. "Ow. Okay, now what?" He touched Roxas' memories and looked for a time when Roxas had summoned a Samurai. He allowed the memory to flow into his mind, and the knowledge came to him.

Sora jumped out of his bed, and closed his eyes. He held out his hand, and said in a monotone voice "Come to me." A slight swooshing sound filled his ears, so familiar. It made sense, as he had heard it so many times when the minor nobodys spawned. Sora opened his eyes, and he had to resist the urge to summon his keyblade. Three Samurai nobodys stood at attention, ready for orders. "This is so weird," Sora said.

He cleared his throat, and knew that he had to give the right orders. "With the assistance of other Samurais, search the worlds for a Princess of Heart. Red hair, blue eyes. Her name is Kairi. When she is located, report back here."

A trio of voices coming from somewhere between Sora's ears spoke to him. Yes, my liege. The Samurais vanished, to gather others and begin to search the worlds.

Sora took a deep breath. "I hope this works," he said. He walked back over to his bed, and fell down on it. He was quickly asleep.

Eliv Thade

The ghost of the son of a former Duke, cursed to speak in anagrams forever. He is tied to the mortal world after death because he never was able to tell Maria, King Rayar's oldest daughter, that he loved her. Despite the fact that he is a ghost, he can pick things up, like Kairi's notepad and pencil.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Eliv Thade is based off of a character of the same name on Neopets, except that this one is human, whereas that one is a neopet. And the Legend of Zelda that Kairi tells is the story of the first Zelda game in the timeline, Ocarina of Time, which takes place thousands of years previous to the beginning of Kingdom Hearts. That bit about Link killing Ganondorf comes from Twilight Princess, and I just did it because I wanted to. Remember, reviews are always appreciated!


	50. Sanctuary of Mind

_Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Sanctuary."_

The days passed quickly. Sora waited every moment for a Samurai to report back, hoping that they would find her. Kairi told stories every night, perfectly done. As time passed, more of the King's daughters would come to hear stories, and the day even came when King Rayar's wife, Shah, came. But the eldest daughter, Maria, never came. Sora didn't know any of that was happening, but couldn't stave off that feeling of urgency in his heart. He couldn't distract himself, not by reading, not by trying to beat Aqua in chess--he failed in that endeavor--not by dueling, nothing. No matter what, his mind stayed fixated on her. Kairi thought that she still had time, but she couldn't have been more wrong.

---

King Rayar listened carefully to his advisor. At the very end, Yazm said, "And sir, the people have been questioning when you shall carry through with your execution, of the girl? It has been two weeks already, and rumors are beginning to circle amongst the people."(1)

"What are these rumors, Yazm?"

Yazm shifted nervously. "You see, sir, there are rumors going around that the girl, well, that she has bewitched you." This suggestion was preposterous. Even if Kairi knew how to control somebody, her magic was sealed off. However, they didn't know that. "Frankly, the people do not want a puppet for a King."

King Rayar rested his chin on his palm. His daughters and wife enjoyed the stories and, while he would never admit it, he liked them too. But Yazm did have a point. Not about the control, but about the people. If Kairi was not killed soon, the people could very likely rebel. "Very well. Have the gallows ready tomorrow, at noon sharp." Yazm bowed to King Rayar, and scurried out of the room. King Rayar sighed. "Oh, the girls will not like this."

---

That night, Kairi finished up her story, with the same words as always. "And they all lived happily ever after. The end." She took a deep breath.

"Tell another story!" Selkie said excitedly.

"I would enjoy one more," Queen Shah said. The girls all chorused their request for another story, even Maria, who had decided to join them that night. Kairi hoped to fulfill her promise to Eliv Thade, and speak to Maria.

"I suppose I could," Kairi said.

"No!" All eyes turned to King Rayar. His eyes were cold as always. "You shall not begin another. We know what will happen. Somebody falls asleep, and you can't finish your story until tomorrow, thus postponing your death." Kairi gulped. It was only a matter of time before he figured it out. "Now, you shall be returned to the crypt. And tomorrow, you shall hang. Guards!"

Kairi stepped next to Maria before the guards could nab her, and whispered in her ear. "Eliv loves you."

"What?"

"Eliv Thade's ghost resides in the crypt. He loves you, and can't move on until you know."

Tears fell down Maria's face. "He really said that?" Kairi nodded. Maria smiled. "Thank you, so much Kairi. That's all I ever wanted to hear from him."

The guards grabbed Kairi, and pulled her away to the crypt once again. And as always, Kairi went to the back corner of the stone floor. Her pad of paper sat on the ground. A message was written on it. "Thank you," it read. There. Her promise was fulfilled, and she could focus on the bigger problem.

"No," Kairi said. She sat down and looked at her paper. She had doodled on it everywhere there weren't words. Kairi set it down. She looked up at the ceiling. "What now?" A solitary tear fell down her face. The memories of the princesses couldn't help her. There was only one person who could help her, and he was out in the universe, with no idea where she was.

---

Sora's eyes widened. He fell to his knees, but still had to lean on the wall of the gummi to keep himself from falling on his face. His heart was cold. So cold.

He pounded the wall. "I can't believe this! I just can't believe this!" He could feel it, deep in his heart. If he didn't do something quickly, Kairi would die. No doubt about it, she would die. He didn't know how he knew, but he did know, and that's was what mattered.

Without Kairi, he would be alone. Yeah, sure, there would be his other friends, but Kairi was different. She was his light. "I can't live without you, Kairi." He looked out the window of his bedroom on the gummi. He looked behind him, and the door was closed.

**Musical Moment: Resonating Hearts**

_Sora: In you and I, there's a new land. Angels in flight._

Kairi rubbed her hand against the stone floor.

_Kairi: wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I. My Sanctuary, my Sanctuary, yeah, where fears, and lies, melt away._

_Sora: Music inside. Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I. What's left of me, what's left of me, now._

Kairi closed her eyes, and saw Naminé's memories playing in her mind. The nobody was drawing, stitching together the pieces of the sleeping Sora's memories.

_Kairi: I watch you, fast asleep. All I fear, means nothing._

_Sora: In you, and I, there's a new land. Angels in flight, wonk uoy naht noitceffa deen I. My Sanctuary, my Sanctuary, yeah, where fears, and lies, melt away._

_Kairi: Music inside. Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I. What's left of me, what's left of me, now._

_Sora saw every battle of his, from the Darkside at Destiny Islands, to Xemnas. From Ansem, Seeker of Darkness, to Marluxia._

_Sora: Snwod dna spu ynam os. My heart's a battleground. Snoitome eurt deen I. Wonk uoy naht noitceffa deen I. Snoitome eurt deen I._

Sora and Kairi both stood up, Sora in the gummi ship, Kairi in the crypt of the castle of the Kingdom of Ra. But they might as well have been right next to each other.

_Sora and Kairi: You show me how to see. That nothing is whole and nothing is broken._

_Kairi: In you and I, there's a new land._

_Sora: Angels in flight._

_Kairi: Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I._

_Sora: My Sanctuary, my Sanctuary, yeah, where fears, and lies, melt away._

_Sora and Kairi: Music inside. Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I. What's left of me, what's left of me now._

_The world began to spin around Kairi, and the colors of his room began to blur around Sora. But they barely noticed._

_Sora and Kairi: My fears, and lies. Melt away. Wonk uoy naht noitceffa erom deen I._

Everything went black.

---

Sora couldn't believe it. There he was, standing on his platform in the Station of Calling. A bridge stretched out from it, to another platform. Standing on it was Kairi.

He ran as fast as he could across the bridge, and embraced her. Or he tried. He passed right through her, like she wasn't even there. But she was looking at him.

"Kairi!" He tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but it sank right through. She tried to touch him, but the same effect happened.

"Sora," she said quietly. "Please. You have to hurry. I'm in the Kingdom of Ra. You have to wake up, now! I'm in the crypt of the castle. There's a ton of guards, I don't know how many, but you need to get there before noon tomorrow, or--" She stopped abruptly. Sora didn't need her to finish.

"I'll be there," he said. He pulled her good luck charm from his pocket. "I promise."

---

Sora ran into the bridge, where Riku and Xion were. They were using their ability to detect dark scents to search the worlds, but that wasn't necessary anymore.

"We have to get to the Kingdom of Ra!" he said. He slid into the seat, and searched for the world. To the questioning looks of everybody there, he said "I talked to Kairi, in a dream. I don't know how, but we have to get to the Kingdom of Ra before noon tomorrow."

Terra opened his mouth to say something, probably along the lines of "What makes you so sure? I mean, a dream?" but Ven put his hand over Terra's mouth.

"A dream, dude," Ven said. "I don't know about you, but I find dreams to sometimes to be very accurate." Terra rolled his eyes. "Let's go for it!"

Sora found the world, and hit the "GO" button. It would take them a while to reach it, a few hours, but they had to get there as fast as possible. He configured the autopilot, and for an exchange of most of the lights, the Blazer went even faster than before. "I'm coming Kairi," he said quietly.

---

Thanks to two different squads of heartless ships, it took them longer than expected to reach the Kingdom of Ra. Sora barreled out of the gummi ship the second they landed.

"Man, he really likes her, doesn't he?" Jessie said. "I think I'm feeling something." He opened his mouth and a burp came out. Oro high-fived him, and Xion slapped them both.

"You two don't have a romantic bone in your bodies!" she exclaimed. "Now let's get going, now!" She ran out after Riku, who had been right behind Sora.

Sora barreled through the streets. The crowds were thick for the time of day it was, a little past eleven. Sora could only think about what Kairi had said. Noon, or she was dead. Literally. At the gate to the castle, tons of people were gathered. Most of them were rich folk.

"What are all these people doing here!" Sora said, trying to push his way through.

"It's not that uncommon in some worlds for people to attend executions, particularly hangings," Aqua informed him. Her eyes widened, and Sora pushed twice as hard. He fell to the ground. It was useless. These people were like a solid wall. Worse than a solid wall, because these guys pushed back.

Riku looked to the sky, and closed his eyes in thought. They could scale the wall, but there was a huge chance they could be spotted. Those guards all over the place did not look very friendly, and they were already giving suspicious looks to them.

His thinking was interrupted by a dog barking. He looked around, and saw a familiar dog, but no clue as to how it got here. "Pluto?"

Sora turned around at the sound of Riku's voice, and spotted the loyal mutt of King Mickey. Pluto ran and tackled Sora. "Okay, okay!" He checked the dog over, and ran his hands under the collar, but there wasn't any kind of message like the one Pluto had been carrying after he, Donald, and Goofy had defeated Ansem. "How did you get here?" he asked. Going on out on a limb, he said "Do you know how we can get to Kairi?" Pluto backed off of Sora, and barked.

He ran a bit down the road, and turned to them. He barked again. "He wants us to follow him!" Sora said, going after Pluto. He led them through back roads and alleys, ending up at a point in the wall where there were no guards or people anywhere. Pluto barked, and stomped one of his paws on the ground. A depression formed, and the ground spread across the moat. When Sora examined the wall, he saw that some of the bricks stuck out just enough to allow for handholds.

"Thank, Pluto," he said to the dog, and quickly scampered up the wall. He ran across the top, and made it to the point where he could see the gallows, ready to be used. Sora scanned the crowd. There she was, her head bowed, and hands shackled together. "Look out bad guys, because here comes the P.O.'d Knight, to save the Princess."

* * *

**Author's Note**

(1) If you look closely, Yazm is an anagram of Yzma, the advisor in the Emporer's New Groove. They share no other relationship.

Sora does not like people messing with his woman *slap't* Moving on, not much else to say, reviews are always appreciated!

DarkMoonPrincessAzara -- The original Eliv Thade, the one that I based mine off of, was the focus of a game on Neopets that dealt with solving anagrams, so they gave him a name that fit.


	51. At Last

Kairi walked slowly across the ground. Her head hung low. She didn't try to fight the guards leading her to the gallows. She said nothing in the face of death. Her heart beat faster, and faster, like it knew that it was going to stop and had to make up for a lifetime of missed beats. Oddly, her mind was afraid, but her heart was different. It was leaping.

"Hey, iron heads! Pick on somebody your own size." Kairi looked up, and from the top of the wall came Sora. A smile spread across her face. He made it.

Sora summoned his keyblade in mid-leap, and went straight into fighting position. "Let her go, now!"

The guard on the right laughed. "Or what? You'll hit us with your big key?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." Before the guards could get in another word, Sora whacked them both upside the head, and they were down for the count. Sora unlocked the shackles from Kairi's wrists. "Told you I'd come. Let's kick some butt."

Kairi glanced down at the seal on her hand. "I can't. Thadex put this mark on me, and I think it makes it so I can't use magic, or summon my keyblade." Sora reached for her hand, and looked at her palm.

"A seal isn't that far off from a lock," Sora said. "Hold out your hand, palm out." Kairi did as he said, and Sora pointed the end of the keyblade at her palm. The gears of the seal actually started spinning, and the X in the middle vanished. The base of Kairi's keyblade, the Flowering Destiny, appeared in a flash of light. "Now are you ready?"

Kairi nodded. "Let's go!" A long rope of fire came from the end of her keyblade. She spun it around like a whip, and it let off a loud crack! She gestured to the guards. "Just try me," her gesture said. With a yell, three guards came at her with swords. In less than two second, all three were down. "Easy."

Sora rolled around a guard, and kicked him in the back. The guard fell, and Sora used the second he had to pull a summon charm shaped like an eye from his pocket. "Let's go!" A door fell from the sky, and landed in the dirt. From the door stepped a big blue monster.

Sulley cracked his knuckles. He used his enormous strength to push guards out of the way continuously. Ten guards faced him, each one with a spear, sword, or mace. Sulley roared, and each one dropped their weapons and ran away in fear. All except for one, who must have had a much stronger constitution than his fellows. Sulley stepped up to the remaining guard. "Boo," he said simply. The guard yelped and ran away. Sulley gave a thumbs-up, and vanished back to his own world.

Out of nowhere, a man dressed in black came at Kairi and Sora, a knife in hand. He was this close to getting them both, when Riku easily sent him flying. "Just like Tidus trying for a sneak attack," Riku said coolly. "Failed, every time after the first."

Then, as always, watching them from a position high up was Thadex. "I can't believe she survived this long," he said, a tone of surprise in his voice. "Not to mention the fact that Sora found her. I must learn not to underestimate them."

A loud voice called out "STOP!!!" The guards stood at attention of King Rayar. The King walked through the men, and stopped at Kairi. She held up her keyblade to defend herself. To her surprise, King Rayar bowed deeply to her. "I am truly and deeply sorry. Your stories have opened my eyes. Each of those stories had a figure of power, a King or a Queen, who only thought for themselves, and suffered for that. I don't wish to become like them."

"Then stop being so cruel to people," Kairi said. "Give the poor a chance to get educated, and don't kill people relentlessly. Most of all, stop this business of killing girls who have hearts filled with light."

"Yes, yes of course," King Rayar said. "You have my word on it. If I may, Miss Kairi. You are the greatest storyteller I have ever heard. There is a tradition of giving a title to the master of crafts, and you are most definitely the master of yours. Lady Kairi Goldenheart, if you will accept it. It is the least I can do to repent for what I have inflicted upon you."

Kairi looked to Sora, who shrugged. Kairi looked to King Rayar. "I will accept this title, on one condition. You will allow me and my friends to leave peacefully."

King Rayar nodded. "Of course, of course. You may leave now, if you wish."

"That's definitely what I wish," Kairi said. She and Sora turned, and walked through the crowd, who separated as they passed. Their friends joined them, and they returned to the gummi ship with two interruptions. The first one was Pluto catching up with them, and plowing Sora to the ground to get on the gummi ship with them.

The second one was when Kairi put her hand to her forehead. She groaned, and fell to the ground. She had passed out from sheer exhaustion, and Sora didn't waste a moment in picking her up carefully, and carrying her into the gummi ship.

He placed her onto her bed, and put a hand on her shoulder. "Good night, don't let the bed bugs bite." Sora left the room, and turned out the light.

James "Sulley" Sullivan

A giant blue furry monster, who isn't so much into the scaring bit since something a while ago in his homeworld. But any time Sora calls him up, he'll use whatever he has in order to help him out, including scaring off some fraidy-cat guards. He appeared in _Monsters Inc_.

* * *

**Author's Note**

And it's over, Kairi is safe, Sora is happy. Sorry that this chapter was so short, I didn't realize the length at the time I was writing it. Now on to business.

I am going to be going to camp on this Sunday, June 25th. There is no electricity, no wi-fi, and the only way that even the counselors can use cell phones is to stand right next to the flag pole to boost their signal. So in other words, I won't be able to update at all. So I'm not going to be starting the next world until I get back, so that I don't leave you guys on a cliffhanger. Ain't I a nice girl? I thought so.

EvaXGo -- Can't say I've ever played Assassin's Creed, but thanks anyways.

luvvin longtail -- Sorry, but like I said, I'm going to camp next week. But I'll update as soon as I get back, I promise.


	52. NOT AGAIN!

A beep came from one of the screens in the gummi. Somebody was trying to communicate with them. Sora hit the accept button, and saw Yuffie in Merlin's house. She was jumping up and down excitedly.

"Get back here now! Now now now now now!" Yuffie said very quickly. Her eyes were wide, and it looked a bit like she had had too much sugar on her cereal. She jumped high into the air, and ran from the house.

Aerith stepped in front of the screen. "Excuse her, she's really excited about something we found," she said. "Can you come back here?"

Sora looked around, and nobody objected. "Sure. It should only take us a few hours. We've had a few busy weeks. But we're good now."

Aerith beamed. "Everybody will be happy to hear that. Believe me, you'll be amazed by what we found."

"You aren't going to tell us, are you?" Sora said. Aerith shook her head. "That stinks. End transmission." The screen turned black again. Sora cracked his knuckles. "So we're headed to Radiant Garden," he said, and reset the autopilot. He stuck his hands in his pockets, and sat up. He ran his right hand through the pocket. Nothing was there.

Sora dove to the ground, looking for the star-shaped good luck charm. "Where is it?"

"Looking for this?" Terra said. Sora looked up, and sighed in relief. Terra was holding the charm, and examining it curiously. "Hm. Don't quite get it." He tossed it to Sora.

"It's a good luck charm, it belongs to Kairi. She gave it to me after I got her out of Hollow Bastion. Then she left it behind when Thadex captured her. It's really important to her."

"Seems weird then that you lost it and didn't even know it until now," Terra said, leaning back. "I found that thing three hours ago. Sure it's so important?"

Riku looked up. "Oh boy," he said under his breath. This was not leading into something good.

"Of course it's important!" Sora exclaimed. "I guess it just slipped out of my pocket. It could have happened to anyone."

"Did you ever consider putting into a pocket with a zipper?"

Sora ignored him. He didn't want to get into another fight. But Terra had different plans. "That's really mature, you know that? Ignoring me. Stop being such a kid."

"Shut up," Sora murmured. It was like Terra wanted him to get mad at him. "Just shut up already."

Terra evidently didn't hear him. "Did you hear me, kid?"

"That's big talk for somebody who's only a year older than me," Sora said finally. "Seriously, you're sixteen, how are you that much more mature than me? This'll make it the third time I've traveled across the universe. I defeated Xehanort's Heartless, Maleficent's group of villains multiple times, and most of the Organization including you!"

"You think that fighting makes you mature?" Terra asked. "Suffering is what makes you mature. Figuring out the world, knowing that the difference between victory and defeat depends on you."

Sora glared at him. "I've suffered more than you, Ven, and Aqua combined! I lost my home, ended up in an entirely different world, and didn't even know if my friends were alive!"

Terra laughed. "Sounds familiar."

"What? I don't know what you're talking about!"

Aqua whispered to Ven, "I don't think Sora knows what Sora's talking about."

"None of the three of you know what it's like! I've done more in my life than all three of you, and you don't get it at all!"

Silence filled the room. If looks could kill, Sora would be dead as a doornail. Terra glared at him with daggers, Aqua looked really ticked off, and Ven's head hung, his eyes closed. Terra stood up, and gestured to Sora. "Well, Sora officially has no brain. I'm out of here before I kill somebody. Particularly a keyblade master."

"Right behind you," Aqua said, following him out.

Sora blinked. "What's their problem?"

Ven clenched his fists. "What's their problem?" he repeated. "What's your problem?! You're the one that doesn't get it at all! You're a stupid, immature brat with the I.Q. of a skunk!"

Sora opened his mouth, but Riku stopped him. "Think before you say something else."

"Thank you, Riku," Ven said. Riku went back to his book. "Now, we told you what happened to us, but I'm going to show you what happened." Ven slid a shard of crystal from his pocket, bright blue in color. "This is the Memory Shard of the Heartstone. It's like that yellow crystal, the Life Shard, that healed you, but different. This one deals with memories. Riku, you might want to leave." Riku shrugged, and left the room. Ven closed his eyes once the door was closed. The Memory Shard glowed with bright light, and the room vanished.

_Dorms were built all over the place. Most of the ground was dusty dirt, but small gardens could be found next to the dorms. There was a faint background noise, like many people talking at once. These people were all happy, laughing and cheering together._

"The three of us lived with our Keyblade Master, Master Rider, in the Gathering Place. We were included in a group of strong-hearted individuals called The Warders. We protected the worlds from any threat, and kept peace. Every five years, the Warders would gather from their many homes across the worlds. Ten-year apprentices would be knighted, eventually becoming Masters, and Masters would choose new apprentices. It was always the same, until that day."

_Outside of the walls of the Gathering Place, three people ran through the forest, laughing as they chased each other. Not a training exercise, but a simple game of tag. One was tall, with brown hair. One was short, with spiky blond hair. And the third was a girl with blue hair. Terra, Ven, and Aqua, as they once were._

_No shadows in Terra's eyes, remnants of the time as Xemnas. No sadness in Aqua's eyes, remembering her friends dead. And none of that far-off look Ven got sometimes, recalling being erased from the world._

_Terra was it, and couldn't keep up with Aqua and Ven in the dense foliage. "Give me a chance, c'mon!" Terra pleaded._

_"Not a chance!" Ven said, actually running backwards. He was suddenly knocked off his feet by a blizzard spell on the branch he had been standing on. Terra tapped him as he ran by._

_"Thanks," Terra said to Aqua, resident mage._

_"I haven't a clue what you're talking about," Aqua said, even though her keyblade was still drawn. She dismissed it quickly, and looked over her shoulder. "Run, run!"_

_Ven had picked up the pace, and was coming after them at top speed. He breezed right past Terra, and went for Aqua. He tapped her lightly on the head, and went running in a different direction._

_Ven stopped suddenly. He sniffed the air. "Is it just me, or is there kind of a weird smell in the air?" He sniffed again. "Something's burning. I'm not talking the bonfire."_

_The three of them ran as fast as they could back to the Gathering Place, and were shocked by the sight. Fires burned, everywhere. The dorms and gardens were up in flames, Warders lay dead on the ground, and creatures with strange markings came at the three of them._

_Terra struck one down, Aqua blasted one with a thunder spell, and Ven overcame one with his speed. "What are these things?" Ven asked. Neither Terra nor Aqua had an answer for him._

_Horrible laughter came from down the path. From the rubble of buildings that had crumbled, came an old man in a black coat. His head was bald, his skin was dark, and his eyes, oh, those eyes were unbelievably piercing gold._

_"Master Xehanort! What's going on?" Aqua asked keeping her guard up. She had never liked that old man._

_"Ah, dear Aqua, I didn't realize that you and your friends weren't here. Hm, appears that I'll have to dispose of you myself, since all of my Unbirths are busy, and my apprentice is taking care of somebody." He gestured up the path, and an explosion went off, showing them what he was referring to._

_Their master, Master Rider, was dueling to the death with Thadex. Somehow or another, Thadex's keyblade had a keychain._

"I still don't know how Thadex could have been knighted already. I really don't get it at all. Terra and Aqua had no clue either."

_Master Rider managed to knock Thadex to the side, and saw Master Xehanort confronting his apprentices. "No! You have to get out of here! I'm the only one left, and I can't hold out much longer!" he pleaded. Genuine fear filled Master Rider's eyes._

_"Keep out of this, Rider," Master Xehanort said. He looked away for just long enough that Terra, Ven, and Aqua could dart away in different directions. "I should have taken care of you when I had the chance."_

_Ven ran through the buildings, trying to avoid getting burnt to a crisp. Everywhere he looked, he saw death. Friends, almost like family. Even some of those guys who he hadn't really like all that much, his heart sank when he saw them laying dead._

_"There you are," said a familiar voice. Thadex, wearing that strange armor, stood in Ven's way, keyblade drawn. He snapped his fingers, and three Unbirths appeared behind Ven, preventing him from escaping._

_"VEN!!!" Terra and Aqua shouted from somewhere else._

_Thadex turned his head toward the voice. "Hm. Seems that my Master has found your friends," he said. "Now you shall finally fall." Darkness charged up along his keyblade, and a huge burst of dark magic shot at Ven._

_He felt himself falling, deeper and deeper into darkness. He opened his eyes when he felt he was on solid ground, and looked around. He was in the entrance, to some sort of arena. The burning braziers reminded him. "No! The fire! And those creatures! Who was it that did that?"_

"I couldn't remember anything about Master Xehanort or his apprentice, and it was a while before I remembered." The memory vanished, and was replaced with the bridge of the Gummi Ship. Ven rolled around the Memory Shard in his hand. "What happened to me wasn't too far off from Terra and Aqua, except for the memory thing. So next time, think for a second, before you open your mouth."

He stepped into the doorway. "Supposedly, the Memory Shard can let you speak to past keyblade masters. Try it yourself, and maybe he'll be able to knock some sense into you," Ven said, and tossed Sora the crystal. The door slammed shut behind Ven.

Sora examined the crystal, and slipped it into his pocket. If it did work, he wouldn't have a lot of time for it anyways. Maybe while they were in Radiant Garden, if he got the chance he could try it, but not right now.

---

Radiant Garden was peaceful as always. Almost no heartless, and people were walking around without a care in the world. Despite the fact that there were plenty of witnesses, Sora made sure that he was always behind Terra, Ven, and Aqua, who were really not in a good mood.

Like the first time, a TRON droid was taking them to meet the Restoration Committee. Sora noticed that they were headed to the Garden of Assemblage, where the data versions of Organization XIII were located. The robot took them through the back door, and it rolled into the very center of the room. "Please wait a moment," it said in a monotone voice. A panel floated up from the floor, and the robot pressed a few buttons on it.

A doorway opened up, that Sora hadn't ever noticed before. The droid led them through it, and the door closed behind them. The pathway was outdoors, and filled with a bunch of debris. They carefully stepped over the junk, while the robot had to stay behind due to its lack of legs.

The path finally opened up, and they found the entire Restoration Committee, the apprentices, and even the Gullwings waiting for them. Sora immediately saw what it was that they needed him for. A giant gate with a lock on it, preventing further access.

Yuffie looked up, and smiled wide. "You're here!"

Sora stepped up. "You bet! So what is this thing?"

"It was the entrance to the gardens," Leon said. "The ones this world was named for. The very first one is the Garden of Calling. People would come here when they weren't sure about themselves, and their destiny. Paths in it lead all over different gardens, and connect the kingdom."

"So what happened to it?" Sora asked.

"The Keeper of the Gardens, Kaya Hikari, sealed the gate when the heartless invaded, to keep it safe," Aerith said. "That locked all the gates, but nobody knows where the key is. Turns out, you had it all along."

Sora summoned the keyblade. He pointed the tip at the lock. Nothing happened.

"Never realized how stupid that looked when nothing happens," Ienzo said flatly.

"I don't get it," Sora said to himself. "Isn't the keyblade supposed to be able to open any lock?"

A thought occurred to Kairi. She reached into her pocket, and pulled out the small golden key Naminé had given her. "Every key opens something," she said, echoing Naminé's words. The key itself was too small to fit in the lock. But maybe . . .

Kairi summoned her keyblade. The key glowed with bright light, and transformed into a keychain. It was a rose, intercrossing with a scroll. Kairi attached the keychain to her Flowering Destiny. It transformed into a completely different blade. The shaft turned light blue, shifting into a deeper blue at the hilt, which was shaped like a water droplet. A curled blue jay's feather formed the teeth. The name _Birthright_ echoed through her mind. "I hope this works."

She pointed the tip of the new keyblade at the lock. A beam of light shot from the end. The doors groaned, and slowly slid apart. The Garden of Calling was slowly revealed to them inch by inch. "No way," Kairi breathed.

"It can't be," Dilan said.

"Impossible," Aerith murmured.

"No," Aqua whispered.

Everybody there was in absolute shock. The garden wasn't bright, and sunny. No colors. It was all black. The plants were dead. Long dead, by the looks of it. The branches of trees sagged downward, the flowers were strewn across the path, and the ponds were filled with dead leaves. Sora felt his heart sinking at the sight of it. How could this have happened?

Aerith walked forward slowly. She kneeled down, and touched a rose gently. A tear fell down her cheek.

"Well, can't we do something?" Yuffie said. "I don't know, try replanting? I mean, if we got everybody in Radiant Garden to help--"

"No," Aerith said. She stood up, and turned to Yuffie. "Replanting won't help. It wasn't the lack of care that made them die. It was the water."

"Right," Aqua said. "That makes sense." To Terra and Ven, she said "The water is--was--filled with magic, that allowed the plants to flourish. It was natural, not any sort of thing done by man, but a part of nature. If the source of the water was tainted, then it could poison all of the gardens."

Sora nodded. "But what could have poisoned it?"

"Darkness," Aeleus said simply.

"Well, where's the source of the water? Maybe we could try and get rid of the darkness."

"The Other Side," Kairi said. Sora looked at her curiously. "The Other Side of Radiant Garden. That's the source of the waters. We'd have to get there, somehow, and find what's poisoning it."

"Or who's poisoning it," Rinoa corrected. "It could be a heartless, or it could be somebody else. But from what I've heard, the Other Side's a junk heap. It was almost entirely destroyed by the heartless, when they invaded the world."

"Nice idea," Leon said, "but it's impossible to get there. There's a magnetic field, that repels any ships that try to get near it. And there's no way to be able to go on foot, it would take too long."

"What about Corridors of Darkness?" Xion asked. "I can still open them. I don't like to, but I can." Riku glanced at her. "Oh, don't give me that look."

Leon thought about it. "What do you think, Cid?"

"What the hell should I know about dark portals?" Cid asked. "I don't need any damn magicians in my life." Leon sighed in exasperation. "Eh, it'd probably work."

"Then let's go!" Sora exclaimed. "We have to try, don't we?"

Leon chuckled. "You never do change, do you? Whatever, just be careful."

Xion walked a few steps away from everybody, and held out her hand. Darkness swirled up from the ground, creating a portal. "There, a Dark Corridor straight to the Other Side of Radiant Garden." Everybody in their group went in. Terra, Ven, Aqua, Sora, Riku, Kairi, Oro, Jessie, and of course, herself. The portal closed.

Birthright

A mysterious keyblade, and one of the few to be ever used by many different people. It shares this honor with the Keyblade from the Realm of Light (Sora's keyblade) and the Keyblade from the Realm of Darkness (King Mickey's Keyblade). Its keychain was transformed into a simple key, which ended up in Namine's possession. It is the only form of the keyblade that can open the lock to the gardens in Radiant Garden.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Good God this was a long chapter! I didn't realize that when I was writing it! I'm seriously inconsistent with chapter lengths. One day a chapter has 3000 words, the next, 800.

Anyways, with this chapter, a new arc begins! The Other Side of Radiant Garden! And now also starts the point where Terra, Ven, and Aqua are seriously P.O.'d at Sora for basically the rest of the journey, until Sora does something to gain their respect at the very end, which I shall not tell you about.

EvaXGo -- Well, maybe. I did see some ads for Assassin's Creed when it was going to be released, and it looked kinda cool.


	53. The Other Side

The Other Side of Radiant Garden was far different from Radiant Garden itself. It was far more urban, with large skyscrapers and wide streets. Cars were piled up against the sides of the road. It made for a creepy environment. Such a big city, but almost nobody around anywhere. In the very center of the city was a tower, sticking up like a needle. It was higher than any other building.

Sora walked the streets silently. Kairi was beside him. Both had their keyblades drawn, but Kairi had gone back to the Flowering Destiny. "Creepy, huh?"

"You can say that again," Kairi replied.

"So what are we looking for?"

Kairi thought for a second. "We should probably check the huge tower."

"Can't argue with that logic," Sora said. "Remember, we gotta keep an eye out for anything. Who knows what could be hiding in this place?"

Sora heard the click of a gun. "We're what could be hiding in this place," said somebody from behind them. He turned around slowly, to see two men. One had red hair, and red tattoos under his eyes. The other one was dark-skinned with no hair, and wore black sunglasses. The latter was holding a pistol. "Oh, it's just a kid," the redhead said. "Forget about it, Rude." The dark-skinned man, Rude, lowered the gun.

"Who are you two?" Sora asked, not taking an eye off them for a second.

"The name's Reno," the redhead said. "My partner's Rude. We're two of the only people left here in the Other Side. What are you doing here?"

"We're trying to decontaminate the water," Kairi said. "The Gardens are dead, and they can only be restored by the water."

"Two kids?"

"Our friends are looking around too," Sora said. "There's nine of us." Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a Neoshadow hiding in an alley. "Heartless!"

A bunch of heartless jumped from the shadows and came at them. Sora and Kairi sliced apart one after another. Reno drew a nightstick from his belt, and stabbed at heartless, leaving sparks running through them as they dissipated. Rude didn't even use his gun, and punched heartless out of the air.

"When will these things stop?!" Sora exclaimed. He threw the keyblade, and it destroyed a group of heartless before coming back at him. "Fire!" Flames scorched through their ranks. With a last slash, the heartless were gone.

"Looks like the heartless are back," Reno said. "Better tell the others about this."

"There are other people here? Isn't that a little dangerous?" Sora asked.

"No more dangerous than anywhere else," Rude stated. Sora definitely couldn't deny that.

---

Later, they had regrouped back at the headquarters of the people that lived there. It was a library, but some of the rooms had been changed to suit other needs, like a fighting room, kitchen, and of course sleeping arrangements. By the looks of it, the beds were rarely used, as they were all made perfectly.

Sitting around at a table in the only part of the headquarters that could still be called a library--and boy, was it a library--was five kids Sora's own age. One even looked a little younger than him.

They turned around when they saw Sora and Co. enter with Reno and Rude. One of them, a blond girl that seemed somewhat familiar to Sora, smiled when she saw them. "I was wondering when we'd see you!" she exclaimed.

"I know you from somewhere," Sora said, "but I can't remember where. Did you live in Twilight Town, maybe?"

Her jaw dropped. "How can you not remember me?"

One of the other boys, who also seemed familiar, said, "C'mon, he hasn't seen us in over a year, and we weren't exactly best of friends, right?"

The girl sighed. "Oh! I know how I can remind you." She walked off to the side, and strutted in front of them. She flipped her hair, releasing the smell of shampoo.

Sora breathed in the scent. "Oranges."

"Pineapple," Riku added.

"And a touch of paopu," they both said.

Sora's eyes widened. "Kiki?" She giggled, and nodded. Sora looked again at the other kids. Right, there was Kiki, then that muscular guy was Iz, and the weedy kid with a shield strapped to his back was Fiyero. All residents of Destiny Islands. Kiki was a popular girl, Iz was a blitzball player, and Fiyero was that kid who spent all of his time in the back of the library.

Kairi forced a smile on her face. She and Kiki really did not get along. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back on the islands, getting a manicure?"

"Actually," Fiyero said, "after the islands were destroyed by the heartless, we ended up in Traverse Town. We learned to fight, and fought off heartless that attacked the world. When you sealed Kingdom Hearts, we ended up not back at Destiny Islands, but here, in the Other Side. Since then, we've fought the heartless and tried to help these guys as much as we can." He looked over at the younger kid, whose face was buried in a book. "You have any clue where the others are?"

"Hilda and Craig are checking out the tower," the kid said in monotone. He sighed. "Again."

"Who?" Xion asked.

"Explain it to them," he said.

Iz sighed. "Hilda and Craig lived here originally, like Reno and Rude, but got sent elsewhere when the heartless attacked."

"Okay, so who are those two?" Riku asked, gesturing to the bookworm, who had grey hair and eyes, and a guy with red eyes and black hair with a white stripe going through it.

Iz pointed to the bookworm first. "That guy lived in Radiant Garden. His father was the librarian for the Castle of Radiant Garden. He won't tell us his name, so we just call him the Librarian."

"Just so you know," the Librarian said, "I know more than just about anybody else in the universe, hate books thieves, and I am very accurate with a knife." He pulled a knife from his belt, and threw it expertly right at a target painted to the door. Bulls-eye.

Iz continued. "The other guy's Endo. He's, well, let me show you." He went over to Endo, and whispered something in his ear. One second, Endo was acting no differently than the next guy. The next, his eyes widened.

"SABOTAGE!!!" Endo grabbed a lamp, ran from the library, and hit something very, very hard. When he came back inside, the lamp was bent like a paperclip. He sat down in his seat, and leaned back, like nothing had happened.

"What did you say to him?" Sora asked.

"His mind's a bit unstable," Iz explained. "Anytime you mention the word--" he whispered the next word "--organization, he goes completely insane. Otherwise, he's perfectly normal. We have no clue why."

Sora thought for a second. "Does he have super strength and super speed?" Iz nodded. "I think I know why he's unstable. Hey, Endo?"

"Yeah, Sora?"

"Do you remember being in the dungeon of a castle sometime?" Endo thought, and nodded. "Was this castle really big? A lot of white?" Endo nodded again. "Were you experimented on there?" Endo swallowed, and nodded a third time. "Do you remember the name Vexen?"

Endo looked down at the ground. "Yes, I do. He laughed, crazily. I hate him. I wanted to kill him, but somebody else got to him first." Sora didn't think he should mention that Vexen was still alive, but as Even. "Even though nobody needed me, I was still kept, in that castle! I didn't get free until two months ago! I was there for a year and a half!" He tucked his legs against his chest, and rocked from side to side.

"That answers one question, but raises so many more," Fiyero said.

"Can we stop playing Dr. Phil already?!" Aqua interrupted. "We're here to try and purify the water. Saving the gardens would do wonders for the people of Radiant Garden."

The Librarian laughed. "You don't think we've tried that?" He set down his book. "At the top of that tower out there, is a column of pure magic. If you could place enough energy in it, then it would purify the water, and we could all go home. However, the amount of energy required isn't too much for any human being to supply, and we can't put it into a gemstone as a battery for it, then toss it in, because the gem would explode from the raw force of the energy."

"So in other words, we need a lot of power?" Aqua asked. The Librarian nodded. Aqua reached into her pocket, and pulled out the Life Shard. "This crystal has nearly limitless energy, because it draws upon the environment around it, and stores it. I'm sure that it would have enough."

At that moment, the door came open. A man and a woman came in. The woman was wearing a suit, and had her blond hair tied up in a bun. A rapier hung at her waist. The man was completely different, and wore a tie-dye shirt, and his long blond hair was held in place by a leather headband. He held a wooden staff.

The woman was first to speak. "Great, exactly what we need. A bunch more whiny kids running around." She sighed. "I am Hilda. This is my twin brother, Craig."

Craig made a peace sign. "`Sup?"

"This girl's saying she's got a crystal that has enough energy to clean the water," Reno said.

Craig looked at Aqua. "Let me see it." Aqua tossed it to him, and Craig examined it. He closed his eyes. His face changed from curious, to peaceful, to happy. He opened his eyes, and nodded. "This'll work, definitely." He gave it back to Aqua.

"Well what are we waiting for?" Sora said. "Let's go!"

Reno and Rude

A pair of Turks. Reno is quite similar to Axel in appearance and personality, and Rude is pretty quiet. Reno chooses to use a nightstick with an electrical bit at the end, while Rude uses his fists. They first appeared in _Final Fantasy VII_.

Kiki

The classic popular girl, resident of Destiny Islands. She doesn't have a very good relationship with Kairi. After the islands were destroyed, she ended up in Traverse Town. Working with Iz and Fiyero, two people she wouldn't have talked to before the destruction, they travelled all over, destroying heartless whereever they went. She fights with tiger claws.

Iz

A Blitzball player, and the voice of reason within his trio. He'll occasionally have a wise moment, other times being completely out of it. He's become good friends with Kiki and Fiyero in their time since the destruction of their home.

Fiyero

He likes books. He doesn't like fighting. He's a pervert. That sums up Fiyero in three sentences.

The Librarian

He knows more than just about anybody else in all the worlds, despite the fact that he's only fourteen. His father was the librarian in the Castle of Radiant Garden, but was killed during the invasion of the heartless. The Librarian refuses to share his name with anybody. He hates book thieves with a passion that burns with the heat of a thousand suns.

Endo

A teenage boy who has gone quite insane. If anybody says a variation of the world "organization" he'll yell "SABOTAGE!" and start destroying things. He has no weapon.

Hilda and Craig

Twins who lived in the original Other Side of Radiant Garden. Hilda is a serious, no-nonesense sort of person. Craig is a hippy, who has a great connection with nature, that allows him to sense magical signatures. They couldn't possibly be more different, and yet they have a connection that allows them to fight in perfect synch.

* * *

**Author's Note**

Yeah, I know. Two weeks without an update. I'm sorry. All those newly-introduced characters except for Reno and Rude are OCs. Yeah...not much to say. Remember, reviews are always appreciated!


	54. Battle on the Highway

Unlike what Sora thought would happen, not everybody went in one group. That would be almost twenty people, after all. So it was him, Terra, Aqua, Craig, the Librarian, Reno, and Rude. Everybody else was going another way. Too many people, apparently, attracted lots of heartless.

At that moment, Sora was talking to the Librarian. He had a few questions, that he might be able to answer. "You've heard of the nobodys, right? Well, a lot of the Organization XIII members have been coming back, with their hearts."

The Librarian sighed. "I might know more than anybody else in the universe, but even some things are beyond my grasping." He looked at the grey sky. "This is just theorization, not surely fact. But, I think, that if a heartless then its corresponding nobody are destroyed, they can be restored. But only if the heart has not yet been reclaimed by the darkness. Otherwise, the nobody will fade into nothingness."

"Wow," Sora said, "I expected you to say something really scientific and I'd have to ask you to translate it to English. But I understood that perfectly."

"I just turned fourteen, you know," the Librarian said indignantly. "I'm still just a kid."

"So, why do you have people just call you the Librarian?"

"That's a question that you will never know the answer to," he replied. "Nor anybody else. Just call me the Librarian. L-I-B-R-A-R-I-A-N. Got it memorized?"

"That's just a rip-off," said somebody behind them.

Sora closed his eyes. "Thadex, again." He turned around, and summoned his keyblade. "If you think you're going to try anything, then you're dead."

Thadex sighed, and shook his head. "Like you almost were, the last time we fought? Really, if you're going to make a threat, don't make it an empty one. Now, hand over the Life Shard, Aqua."

"What makes you think I'd do something like that?" she asked.

"You'll hand it over, or I'll take it from you," Thadex said. Aqua summoned her keyblade. "I thought you'd take it that way. Very well." He used two fingers of each hand to make a cross in front of his chest. He yelled a few words(1), and shadows rose up to create two other figures beside him. Both looked nearly identical, but their suits were pallet swaps. One had green in place of the red, the other had blue in place of the red. "Get the Life Shard!"

The clones both summoned keyblades, with the same kind of pallet swaps as their suits. Thadex snapped his fingers, and a group of Unbirths appeared.

Sora knocked away two Wulfs, and shouted to the others "Go! I'll hold them off!"

"Not gonna happen," Craig said. He bashed an Unbirth with his staff. "Fire!" A blaze erupted from the end of his staff. It did nearly no damage to the monster. "Uh, maybe I should take his advice." He grabbed the back of the Librarian's shirt, who thrashed frantically to get away. "C'mon, kid, this isn't our fight!"

"Stop it, you idiot! It's not my fault you're a coward!" Craig completely ignored the Librarian's words, and headed to the tower.

The clones were both going after Aqua, who was trying to fend them off with Terra and Rude's help. Reno meanwhile was busting Unbirth head.

"C'mon, is that all you got?!" he taunted. He ducked as one almost chopped his head off. "Apparently not."

A skimmer, of all things, slipped between all of the fighters, and stuck its claw into one of Aqua's pockets. It pulled out the small yellow crystal, and slipped back to its master. When it placed the Life Shard into Thadex's hand, he seemed amazed. "That was unexpected." He shook his head. "Let's go! We have what we came for!"

The clones followed Thadex down the road, and around a corner. Ten seconds--or so--later, three motorcycles came roaring down the street. After getting out of the way, Terra tossed his keyblade in the air, and it reformed into the hover-bike. He jumped on it and sped after Thadex and his clones. Aqua threw her keyblade in the air, and started to ride it like a broomstick, fingers wrapped around the handle tightly.

Meanwhile, Sora didn't know how to ride a motorcycle, and didn't have any kind of really fast transport. "I'm not gonna be outdone by those guys!" Suddenly, his keyblade was engulfed in light. The Kingdom Key was replaced by the Fenrir. It jumped out of his hand, and expanded out further. It stopped when it was a bit bigger than a skateboard. It floated a foot above the ground. "Okay, that's really sweet."

Sora jumped on the newly-created hoverboard and went after them toward an old highway. The keyboard ("Boo," Endo said.") was faster than any skateboard Sora had ever ridden, and he was able to catch up to them in less than a minute. Aqua wasn't fast enough, and trailed behind by a ton. As he passed by, Sora stuck his tongue out at her. He ducked just in time to avoid a Blizzard spell to the face.

Terra let go of the handle of his hover-bike, and started sending spells at Thadex. Each one was avoided easily. "Let it go, you're never gonna hit me with dinky little spells." Thadex ducked to avoid decapitation at the end of Sora's hoverboard.

"That's new," Terra said, in reference to Sora's hoverboard.

"That isn't," Sora said, in reference to Terra's hover-bike. Terra was not entertained. "See ya, sucker!" He sped up, leaving Terra in the dust.

"I hate that kid," Terra said. He sped up himself, but his hover-bike only had so much speed. "I hate this thing!" He pulled out a charm from his pocket. Aqua had given it to him, saying that it would provide a burst of power to anything magical or mechanical. He placed it against the hover-bike and said a word in Latin. The charm dissolved into sparks, and the hover-bike glowed as its speed tripled, no, quadrupled!

He caught up with Thadex, and raced alongside him. "What do you want with the Life Shard!"

"Don't you realize how much power is in this thing? I could perform miracles with it," Thadex shouted over the wind. "It makes me wonder why Aqua didn't do anything with it."

"Because she's smart enough to know that the power in that thing is uncontained! If you drew too much of it out, you could kill yourself!"

"That's why I'm smarter than you. I have a method of using this, without fear of death," Thadex said.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

While they just said "Oh yeah?" and "Yeah" back and forth, Sora got in there, and snatched the Life Shard out of Thadex's hand. "See ya! Say hello to the sign for me!" He dropped down flat onto his board, and rolled off of the ruined highway.

Terra and Thadex glanced at each other, and looked ahead. They slammed into a sign at full speed. Both of the clones dissipated from the impact.

"I hate him," Terra said.

"One of the few things we agree on," Thadex said. He ran back to his motorcycle and jumped back on, determined to get the Life Shard back.

Meanwhile, Sora had gotten back on the highway, since it was the easiest path to the tower. He looked behind him and saw Thadex and Terra both coming up quickly. He looked back ahead, and he sped through a narrow opening between two collapsed buildings. Next went Thadex, and Terra last.

Thadex narrowed his eyes beneath his helmet. He placed his hand on a pad between the handlebars. It glowed, and a blast of energy came from the front of his bike. Sora narrowly avoided getting fried. He swerved back and forth, making it impossible for Thadex to get a hit on him. "Stand still!"

Sora came up on a huge turn, and leaned into it just like on a roller coaster. He shot around it, and saw the tower a few miles away. He looked behind him again, and saw that Terra was gone, probably having abandoned the highway, leaving Sora with Thadex getting closer every second. "Why do I have a very bad feeling?" Sora asked himself. A blast suddenly hit his board, and the power made the hoverboard lose all of its power. Unluckily for him, a second beforehand he had swerved out over the edge of the road. Now he was about fifty feet above the ground, and nothing stopped could stop him from hitting very painfully.

So surprised Sora was, he didn't even realize he had dropped the Life Shard. Thadex scooped it up from the ground, and sped off.

The hoverboard changed back into the Fenrir, and Sora summoned it back to his hand. As he fell, the keyblade hooked onto a flagpole sticking out from a building. "That solves one problem," Sora said, "but there's a bigger one here." He was still forty feet above the ground, and no way down. Except for a long fall.

Out of nowhere, somebody grabbed his hood, and yanked him back up easily. The person dropped him on the ground. Sora turned around, and smiled when he saw the swordsman that had saved him. "Hey, Cloud."

"Sora," Cloud merely replied. He looked down the road, where Thadex was getting further and further away by the second. "I'll assume that he shouldn't have that gem, and we need it." Sora nodded. "Then let's go." Cloud returned to his motorcycle Sora had noticed before. "Get on."

Sora jumped onto the back seat. The second he was on, Cloud started the motorcycle and they went speeding down the highway. It took them very little time to catch up to Thadex. Cloud opened up a compartment in the front of his motorcycle, and pulled out parts of his sword, which he snapped together quickly. Light bent around the completed sword, and the bandages formed around it. Sora summoned his keyblade as well.

"Hm, we could do this a boring way, or a more show-off way."

"I say show-off!" Sora said immediately.

Cloud smirked. "Can't say I expected anything less. When I tell you to, jump onto his motorcycle." Sora nodded, and Cloud got alongside Thadex. It was a testament to Cloud's great strength and ability that he was able to wield his huge sword with one hand, and drive his motorcycle with the other. Cloud swung his sword, and Thadex ducked underneath it. "Now!"

Sora jumped to the other motorcycle, and bashed Thadex with the flat of the Fenrir. Sora snatched the Life Shard away, and kicked Thadex off of the motorcycle. "Don't mess with the best!" Sora shouted as they sped away.

Two minutes later, they arrived at the tower, and got up to the top via the elevator. Everybody, even the ones that waited behind at the headquarters, were already there. A pillar of light went from the floor to the ceiling.

Reno smiled when he saw Cloud, while the latter looked a bit ticked. "Hey, Cloud? How're you doin', buddy?"

"Fine, until I saw you," Cloud replied. "Rude."

"Been a while," Rude said.

"Does that guy ever show emotion?" Craig asked. "I just ask 'cause it looks like you know him better than we do." Hilda glared at him. "What? What?"

"Can we leave this until later?" Aqua said, clearly getting annoyed. "Did you two at least get the Life Shard back?" Sora pulled the crystal from his pocket. "Good."

Sora stepped forward. He placed the Life Shard into the pillar of light, and stepped back. The crystal floated in midair, right in the center. It glowed brightly, and the pillar thrummed with power.

If somebody had been watching outside, they would have seen the spire of the tower glow brightly, and bursts of light shot from the end like comets. They flew off, through the sky, and past the horizon.

Kairi watched the light go from the tower, all the way until it vanished. She closed her eyes, and knew that even as she stood there, the waters were clearing. Darkness was leaving this world, maybe not entirely, but far less than what there was.

"We need to get back to Radiant Garden," Kairi said. "Xion?"

"I'm on it," Xion said. She held out her hand, and produced a Corridor of Darkness. "Everybody who doesn't want to be stuck here, get going!"

Out of nowhere, Terra and Aqua both summoned their keyblades. Ven was counting down on his fingers. "Three, two, one, now!" A horrible screech went through the air, shattering the glass of the windows. "Right on schedule." Something big, snow white, and demonic flew past the building. A tremor racked the building.

"We need to get down, now!" Terra ordered. That probably wasn't the correct way to put it. The building shook again, and tilted further and further. With a final snap, everybody went tumbling head-over-heels, down 1200 feet.

* * *

_(1) Shadow Clone Jutsu!_

_Cliffhanger! Dun, dun, duuuun!!!_

_And guys, for those of you who read this, I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a few weeks. I don't have an excuse, but I'm sorry._


	55. Bahamut SIN

**Chapter 54 Bahamut SIN**

Terra fell through the air, feeling completely helpless. He couldn't do anything except hope that he could survive this fall, but then there was Aqua and Ven. If he made it, but they didn't, well, he didn't want to think about it.

_There's a way of insuring their survival, along with all of the others here_, said a voice from deep within his mind.

"No, I won't," Terra said. This was the second time he had been spoken to by his nobody. The first time had been right after he was restored, and heartless had ambushed him.

_You don't want them to die, do you? Or am I mistaken?_

Terra closed his eyes. "I'm sorry." He maneuvered himself so he was facing downward, the ground coming up fast. Nothingness energy gathered in his palms. His eyes flashed gold. With a yell, he pushed downward, and the energy burst from his hands, all around them. Grey vines formed a cage around them, and vanished.

They reappeared down on the ground, and Terra breathed deeply. Using nothingness took a lot out of him. Not to mention it was dangerous. He could control it, but only just.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" It appeared that Craig and Iz had failed to notice that they were no longer falling, and were holding onto each other tightly. A camera flashed.

Endo snickered, until Hilda snatched the camera away from him. She crushed it underneath her foot. "Idiots! You're not falling!" Craig and Iz got away from each other quickly. Hilda sighed. "Now, if you don't mind!"

A shadow was cast over them, and the huge thing that had attacked them landed, shaking the ground and shattering the concrete. It roared.

"Bahamut SIN," the Librarian said. "A demonic form of the King of Dragons, Bahamut."

"Never heard of him," Oro said. "All I know is that the bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Bahamut SIN roared again, unleashing a shockwave. It was so powerful, everybody was sent flying.

Craig landed on his butt. "YEOW!!!" he yelled when Hilda yanked him up by his hair. "Watch the hair, watch the hair!" He rubbed the back of his head, and pulled his rod out of the sheath on his back. Hilda drew her rapier. "Let's show him what twins can do!"

They leapt after Bahamut SIN. Craig spun his rod around, and sent a blast of ice at the demon. The ice crystals hit right in its eyes, blinding it momentarily. He held out his rod parallel to the ground, and Hilda put a foot on it. He grunted as he lifted her into the air, and she used her rapier to stab it in the soft skin under the chin. Hilda's eyes widened. Her attack didn't do anything as much as annoy Bahamut SIN. It flicked her away like a mosquito, and she collided with Craig, and they both went flying into a dumpster.

Fiyero, the book nerd of Destiny Islands, slung his shield off his back. Iz held his staff at the ready, while Kiki pulled out her pair of tiger claws. With a yell, they ran after Bahamut SIN. Kiki used her agility from years of dance class to get around the back, and used her claws to assist her in climbing up the fountain behind it. Fiyero threw his shield like a Frisbee, and it slammed right into the side of Bahamut SIN's head. Iz used his staff to boost himself into the air like a pole-vaulter, and landed on top of the beast's head.

"Take this!" Kiki leapt from her position, onto Bahamut SIN's neck, and dragged her tiger claws down its back. They must have been reinforced with magic, because they cut through the demon dragon's hard back scales. That actually did some damage on it, and it howled in pain.

"For the Islands!" Fiyero called. He jumped up, and grabbed Iz's outstretched hand. Iz pulled him into the air. Kiki gave him a second boost, sending him another three yards up. Fiyero hit a button on his shield, and spikes came out of the sides. He threw it down, and it cut into Bahamut SIN. It again howled in pain.

"For the Light!" Iz shouted. Kiki grabbed his hand, and in a display of strength unexpected for her figure sent him up. Fiyero sent him up further, and Iz spun his staff around and threw it straight down like a spear. Bahamut SIN managed to avoid it, but the assault wasn't over.

"For Kingdom Hearts!" Kiki cried. She jumped herself, got boosts from both Fiyero and Iz, and both of them got out of the way as she got to the peak of her jump. Electricity jumped around her claws, and her flipped herself around in midair, and shot toward Bahamut SIN.

An explosion went off. Kiki was sent flying from the pure force of the explosion. When the smoke cleared, Bahamut SIN looked relatively unscathed. The only sign of Kiki's attack was that its horns were charred black. It spun around, its tail hitting Iz and Fiyero in their midsections. Both of them joined Kiki about halfway down the block.

Reno smiled nervously. "What do you think that chances are we can do anything to this guy?" he asked his partner.

"About none," Rude replied.

"Can't say I expected any more," Reno said. He ran at Bahamut SIN to try and get a hit on it. It cocked its head curiously, like it was wondering if Reno was insane or just plain stupid. It flapped its wings hard, and a blast of wind knocked Reno over. Bahamut SIN bared its teeth and held out its arms menacingly.

"Hello," Reno said, about two seconds from running.

"Hell-no," Rude said. He grabbed his partners arm, and they both ran away from there as fast as their legs could carry them.

"Idiots, both of them," the Librarian said. He turned to Endo. "Shall we?"

"You bet!" Endo replied. He grabbed a pipe from a building, and ran at Bahamut SIN, yelling "SABOTAGE!!!" all the way. He hit it over and over again. Endo, in the period of about ten seconds, probably caused more damage to Bahamut SIN than Craig, Hilda, Kiki, Iz, Fiyero, Reno, and Rude combined. "TAKE THAT, FOUL BEAST!!!"

"I can't deny that he's a fair fighter," the Librarian said. He drew a dagger from his belt, and ran at Bahamut SIN. Endo gave him a hand up, and the Librarian did all he could to get some damage on it. The demonic dragon squirmed around, before it whipped its head away, loosening their grips enough that it could get them gone with a blast of fire.

"It's playing with us," Cloud said. "It hasn't been using its full capabilities. We need something more if we're going to beat it. I'm not talking just a keyblade."

Sora tried to think of something, while Bahamut SIN flew into the air. He couldn't come up with anything. From his palm, the Life Shard began to glow brightly. Sora examined it, and felt something there, besides energy. If he wasn't mistaken, it was like the crystal was alive! And if it was alive, then there was something he could do.

He drew upon his drive energy, and gripped the Life Shard tightly. "Life!" The crystal vanished, and Sora's clothes changed to a golden fabric, with white stripes down each pant leg. He felt energy flow through him, so much he felt like he had to move, had to use that power. A second keyblade appeared in his left hand. It was entirely gold. The teeth were shaped like the sun. The handle was a heart, and the keychain was a smaller version of the Life Shard. The name _Life's Breath_ echoed through his mind. "Let's kick it up a notch."

Sora flew after Bahamut SIN, using the remnants of buildings to boost himself into the air. He went after the demon dragon, shooting light spells at it the entire way. He caught up with it easily, and used his new keyblade to easily slice through Bahamut SIN's hide. It screamed in burning pain. "How d'you like that?" He leapt into the air, and dove down on its back, keyblades first. An explosion went off at the point of impact.

"Okay, I know that I'm ticked off at him right now," Ven said. "But that was really cool."

Sora started to literally fly through the air, a trail streaming behind him. This wasn't like Neverland flying, less control, but more speed with this. He held both keyblades out in front of him, the Kingdom Key and the Life's Breath touching closely. "Take this!" He shot off like an arrow, a streak behind him. He shot through Bahamut SIN, and the dragon screeched in pain before falling down, down, down. When it landed on the street, it burst into a cloud of darkness.

Sora glided back down to the ground. Just in time, too, because his drive ended. The Life Shard reappeared in his hand. He handed it to Aqua. "Now, we can head out."

* * *

_I know. I'm a lazy little bitch. I really can't go a month and a half between updates. I'm ashamed of myself._


	56. Author's Note

Dear Readers (if there are any, that is):

In recent months, the updating of this fanfiction, "Light in the Darkness," has become, frankly, a chore. As very few people have chosen to read it, I feel that I'm wasting my time in writing it, and uploading it to the site. So I have decided to discontinue it. There will be no more updates to this fic.

To those of you who have read this faithfully **and reviewed at least once, **I'm very sorry that it has come to this. To those of you who have read it, and possibly even added it to your alert list, without ever reviewing, there are some words I would like to say to you, but they aren't very ladylike.

If you want to read a really good Kingdom Hearts fanfiction, I suggest these ones:

Prince of Heart Final Mix by TLSoulDude

Kingdom Hearts III: The Heart Crystals by MistressofDawn

Kingdom Hearts III: Hearts of Desire by Nukid

Kingdom Hearts III: Hearts of Gold: FINAL MIX by Mrfipp

Once again, I sincerely apologize to the loyal readers, and to the moochers: HAVEN'T YOU EVER HEARD OF READ AND REVIEW!!!

Sincerely, Phoenix of the Darkness


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